3 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Produced by: Aleksi Perälä

From the playful, random noodlings of early Ovuca can the comparatively more contemplative and subdued Wasted Sunday: the album on which Aleksi Perälä essentially grew up, stepping into the spacier, more ambient realm that would form the base for Astrobotnia and beyond.

While Ovuca did not become the same household name as his Rephlex label-mate stalwarts, this album did make an impact in a few ways: as a frequent placeholder in used bins, it was clear that it wasn’t quite the acid / IDM workout people maybe expected from the label, or artist; but more positively, I’ve seen several takes that received it as I did at the time, as this fresh discovery of an electronic artist melding ambience with the more glitchy. break-based approach of Aphex and the like. However, those takes were also written by people with more evolved tastes: I’m guilty of rarely getting through this record, as Aleksi’s production mutes the whole thing to a snoozey burble; fitting for the album cover of someone pulling bedsheets over their face.

Apparently inspired by the creatures he’d see scampering about at the park, Wasted Sunday represents that vibe perfectly: the kind of lazy playfulness of hanging out in a park, matched with a more contemplative layer – where your thoughts go as you sit there in nature. Beats burble quietly, with occasional vocals calling to mind Ovuca’s goofier former albums, but then it’s all chilled on acid, and mixed way down to a whisper, the shuffling percussion and squeaky synths poking through here and there. Not exactly an album of subtleties, Perälä’s tracks tend to find their mark and loop, but spread across 22 tracks, the variation he milks from that relative basicness is impressive. If the pace and low intensity of the music don’t put you to sleep (as they do for me), it is an album that gets more rewarding the more you’re familiar with it, the album united by its snoozy vibe but managing unique hooks the whole way through.

And Wasted Sunday does, absolutely, perk up at points, with some harsher drum workouts in its midsection, and the back half slightly favoring a more beat-first sound over the somewhat downtempo groove of the first half.

Wasted Sunday can be said to follow on Ovuca’s previous albums in being somewhat ephemeral – you can hear the artist still playing around with concepts and sounds. However, the type of playing he’s doing is well evolved; Perälä has matured from just messing around to being able to capture a mood. Your mileage will absolutely vary in terms of how effective that mood is for you, but it’s a distinct middleground between ambience and IDM that’s rarely committed to to this extent, and thus still a unique experience.