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2LP
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KOM 396LP
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2021 repress; double LP version, includes download. Straight in the wake of their eponymous debut LP (KOMP 131CD/KOM 352LP, 2016), Weval return to Kompakt with their sophomore album, The Weight, breaking their pop-mellow, nostalgia-friendly style further out in the open as they arrive "at this place again were everything felt spontaneous, new and exciting, like we had in the beginning". Orbiting around that ever-luminous yet wistful melodic halo that surrounds their music, this second full-length effort sweeps an extra-wide and languidly woven palette of emotions and moods, making for a uniquely ambitious and generously colored mosaic of sound. If the recording sessions "often started grumpy and emotionless" by Harm and Merijn's own admission, the pair was "surprised by the joy it gave us, which can be compared to the emotions we felt back in the first days of making music together"; subsequently reconnecting with that fresh, naïve feeling of "absolute creative freedom" they were after. The album is also the fruit of a whole new working process for them -- more playful and unpredictable -- which saw them switch from "guitars lying around to piano, onto our own synths and the most cheap quirky toy synths you can imagine", and involved "recording all of our own samples, voice and almost every instrument out of the box. We've always wanted a narrative for the album, and finding the right order perhaps took the most effort." As a whole, The Weight breathes with that transformative richness, free of limits and rules. Amidst this collection of songs and instrumentals that live by Weval's singularly positive take on music -- one that can "lift you up, and make you feel hopeful without being necessarily straight out 'happy'" as they define it, the title-track and lead single stays true to the duo's dynamic approach, putting on a fine balance of floor and dream inducing adaptability that sound engineer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The XX) subtly made palpable. There's heavy showers of funk drops pouring from endless bars of thunderstorm clouds and laid-back riffs beating a restrained poolside-party kind of pulse, but also sensual vocals rising from beneath the sheets and rueful polaroid-filtered ambiences to soundtrack all possible moments in life -- from the most euphoric to those when music seems the only viable healing potion. Weightless and airy, yet texturally dense and widely magnetic overall, The Weight is a synthesis of the duo's multi-angle take on electronics: blissed-out, heartening and infinitely free.
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CD
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KOMP 151CD
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Straight in the wake of their eponymous debut LP (KOMP 131CD/KOM 352LP, 2016), Weval return to Kompakt with their sophomore album, The Weight, breaking their pop-mellow, nostalgia-friendly style further out in the open as they arrive "at this place again were everything felt spontaneous, new and exciting, like we had in the beginning". Orbiting around that ever-luminous yet wistful melodic halo that surrounds their music, this second full-length effort sweeps an extra-wide and languidly woven palette of emotions and moods, making for a uniquely ambitious and generously colored mosaic of sound. If the recording sessions "often started grumpy and emotionless" by Harm and Merijn's own admission, the pair was "surprised by the joy it gave us, which can be compared to the emotions we felt back in the first days of making music together"; subsequently reconnecting with that fresh, naïve feeling of "absolute creative freedom" they were after. The album is also the fruit of a whole new working process for them -- more playful and unpredictable -- which saw them switch from "guitars lying around to piano, onto our own synths and the most cheap quirky toy synths you can imagine", and involved "recording all of our own samples, voice and almost every instrument out of the box. We've always wanted a narrative for the album, and finding the right order perhaps took the most effort." As a whole, The Weight breathes with that transformative richness, free of limits and rules. Amidst this collection of songs and instrumentals that live by Weval's singularly positive take on music -- one that can "lift you up, and make you feel hopeful without being necessarily straight out 'happy'" as they define it, the title-track and lead single stays true to the duo's dynamic approach, putting on a fine balance of floor and dream inducing adaptability that sound engineer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The XX) subtly made palpable. There's heavy showers of funk drops pouring from endless bars of thunderstorm clouds and laid-back riffs beating a restrained poolside-party kind of pulse, but also sensual vocals rising from beneath the sheets and rueful polaroid-filtered ambiences to soundtrack all possible moments in life -- from the most euphoric to those when music seems the only viable healing potion. Weightless and airy, yet texturally dense and widely magnetic overall, The Weight is a synthesis of the duo's multi-angle take on electronics: blissed-out, heartening and infinitely free.
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2LP
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KOM 352LP
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2024 repress; Double LP version with download code. 180-gram vinyl. When Kompakt came across Amsterdam-based Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers aka Weval in 2014, the label was blown away by the duo's slow-burning, darkly emotive tracks. Following two widely acclaimed EPs for Kompakt and numerous festival appearances, the pair now present their self-titled full-length debut. This is no mere collection of tracks, but a complete listening experience with organic flow, emotional heft, and a narrative thread. While the duo's previous Kompakt releases -- their acclaimed 2014 Easier EP (KOMPAKT 318) and 2015's bold and beautiful It'll Be Just Fine/Grow Up (KOM 344EP), which saw the two soundsmiths digging deeper into the granularities of electronic funk than ever before -- were astonishingly fully-formed, the pair's music always seemed destined for more space to explore the nooks and crannies of this rapidly evolving sound cosmos. Simply put, they needed to think about an album, and their beloved living room studio wasn't cutting it anymore. An old school building, repurposed to house small creative businesses, became Weval's new home, but in the summer of 2015, it was abandoned most of the time, with everybody out in the sun while the duo turned the building's attic into a sweet spot to make some noise, have 24-hour access, and lose track of time. Weval draw their inspirations from no single genre of music, but an accumulation of music that inspires them. The results present an astonishingly coherent vision -- cuts like the dramatic "The Battle," bass growler "I Don't Need It," and the trippy epic "Madness" share the same DNA of zestful nostalgia, a knack for immersive sound-sculpting, and that certain kink in the groove. They also feed on deeply personal experiences and moods, as exemplified by the haunting electronic ballad "You're Mine," the carefully layered, polaroid-tinted "Just In Case," and the beautifully voiced closer "Years To Build." And sometimes, it's just an old, out-of-tune piano that stands in the hallway -- "Whenever I'd pass by it, I couldn't resist playing it," says Albers, "so Harm decided to start recording and it became an integral part of 'You Made It (Part I).'" No doubt about it: this is Weval's most powerful and organic material yet -- which means a lot, considering the amount of skill already on display in their small but weighty portfolio.
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CD
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KOMP 131CD
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When Kompakt came across Amsterdam-based Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers aka Weval in 2014, the label was blown away by the duo's slow-burning, darkly emotive tracks. Following two widely acclaimed EPs for Kompakt and numerous festival appearances, the pair now present their self-titled full-length debut. This is no mere collection of tracks, but a complete listening experience with organic flow, emotional heft, and a narrative thread. While the duo's previous Kompakt releases -- their acclaimed 2014 Easier EP (KOMPAKT 318) and 2015's bold and beautiful It'll Be Just Fine/Grow Up (KOM 344EP), which saw the two soundsmiths digging deeper into the granularities of electronic funk than ever before -- were astonishingly fully-formed, the pair's music always seemed destined for more space to explore the nooks and crannies of this rapidly evolving sound cosmos. Simply put, they needed to think about an album, and their beloved living room studio wasn't cutting it anymore. An old school building, repurposed to house small creative businesses, became Weval's new home, but in the summer of 2015, it was abandoned most of the time, with everybody out in the sun while the duo turned the building's attic into a sweet spot to make some noise, have 24-hour access, and lose track of time. Weval draw their inspirations from no single genre of music, but an accumulation of music that inspires them. The results present an astonishingly coherent vision -- cuts like the dramatic "The Battle," bass growler "I Don't Need It," and the trippy epic "Madness" share the same DNA of zestful nostalgia, a knack for immersive sound-sculpting, and that certain kink in the groove. They also feed on deeply personal experiences and moods, as exemplified by the haunting electronic ballad "You're Mine," the carefully layered, polaroid-tinted "Just In Case," and the beautifully voiced closer "Years To Build." And sometimes, it's just an old, out-of-tune piano that stands in the hallway -- "Whenever I'd pass by it, I couldn't resist playing it," says Albers, "so Harm decided to start recording and it became an integral part of 'You Made It (Part I).'" No doubt about it: this is Weval's most powerful and organic material yet -- which means a lot, considering the amount of skill already on display in their small but weighty portfolio.
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12"
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KOM 344EP
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Dutch duo Weval follow their acclaimed 2014 Kompakt debut, the Easier EP (KOM 318EP), with another record of incredibly catchy arrangements infused with rarefied pop magic, featuring two glistening cuts that marry serious beat-science with heartfelt lyrics and soaring melodies. On "It'll Be Just Fine," Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers interweave powerful synth hooks with lyrics that unfold over intricate rhythmic patterns. "Grow Up" slows down the tempo and takes a slightly more direct approach to percussion, adorning its steady throb with immersive vocals and existentialist melodies -- again hitting the duo's sweet spot between melancholy and hope.
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12"
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KOM 318EP
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Weval's Easier EP follows the duo's exclusive track on Kompakt Total 14 (KOMP 118CD/KOM 310LP). From pawing opener "Gimme Some" and synth power ballad "One" to the introspective "Thinking Of" and anthem "Easier," this is a flowing experience. "We made this EP in two totally different moods," the producers explain. "We were both totally in love with two different girls, but for both of us it didn't work out -- and to be clear, this was not our choice... [then] surprisingly it all worked out with those girls... it gets from cool, euphoric to dramatic and intense at the end."
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