Axel Boman and John Talabot combine efforts as Talaboman for The Night Land, an album that brings a new dimension to House as the effervescent rhythms of Barcelona meets Nordic soundscapes. At times Balearic, at times atmospheric, always House and often unconventional, The Night Land is an eccentric album designed for the obscure corners of the dance floor. Bold, big-bodied synthesisers, hover over root pitches with indeterminable curiosity, coming to rest at their side as they crystallise in the sparse atmospheres created by synthetic reverbs and delay.
Combining Boman’s pragmatic functionality and Talabot’s latin flair for colour, the pair create a House album like a storyboard, traversing through the spheres of House music to arrive at the fringes of the familiar. There’s no singular sound around which the album is orchestrated, and it can go from the progressive lethargic thump of locked grooves like “Six Million Ways” to the serene ambient electronica of “Brutal Chugga-Chugga”. Elements of field recordings, contrapuntal percussion and unconventional textures, make this album a lot more Balearic than either producer has attempted on his own, and inadvertently perhaps latching on to some contemporary trends.
In amongst records from the likes of Chmmr, Telephones and Tornado Wallace, The Night Land perpetuates a certain stylised inkling for a new Balearic sound in House, featuring reserved tempos and lo-fi melodic hooks. Talaboman makes it their own, doing away with some eccentricities for a more functional album, with both producers leaving their individual mark across the album, with a professionalism that eludes their lo-fi peers.