Igor by EKOLALI

Malmö multi-instrumentalist Mattias Lagerkvist started out in short-lived trio Cosmic Letters (alongside Martin Herterich of Sand Circles) but since 2012 his primary focus has been swirling, long-form tape delay odysseys under the name Ekolali.

Previous releases have explored solarium drone (Vår Värld I Fossil, via Skeppet’s Kosmisk Vag imprint) and tropical psychedelia (Tropisk Hägring) but Igor is his first work inspired by, and centered on, guitar. A single 40-minute piece, the track flowers from ghostly haze into a glowing wormhole of looped hand-drums, phasing textures, and echo-soaked riff abstractions. Eventually the miasma recedes to blank, haunted gauze for a full five minutes, only to gradually return for a final swooping arc of percussive kosmische freefall.

The title refers to "the name me and my girlfriend gave a limping hooded crow; he lived in the parks of central Malmö, and we spent last summer feeding him.”

Tracklist