Rural Tapes releases new single 'Patchwork'

‘Patchwork’ is a warped, glitched out and propulsive bass-laden journey into krautrock hyperspace, which opens the glorious new album from the Norwegian producer and multi-instrumentalist.

Under his Rural Tapes moniker Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen says, “‘Patchwork’ is the track on Contact which most explicitly shows the hang up I’ve had with old tape machines lately. By sampling and manipulating tapes containing tracked demos, live content, private content from reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes I’ve used them as musical instruments. The sounds and the textures are addictive stuff to me. Monotonous and motorik Neu!-era krautrock like ‘Patchwork’ leaves a lot of space for whatever fun sounds come my way. I rarely use written lyrics in my music, and I think sampling, field recordings and manipulation like this can be storytelling and open up for imagination on the same level as a written lyric."

As the world is hurtling at breakneck speed into the future as everything around us becomes increasingly autonomous, with his new album Contact, Rural Tapes is putting the brakes on and taking things back to a more organic approach, favouring old analogue equipment and historic instrumentation over new technological advances.

Whether drawing on the likes of a zither or gamelan, the instruments that have for centuries been used to carve the sounds of the world come together with synths, drum machines and curious field recordings to create a future-sounding, forward-thinking record, shaped by the equipment of the past.

‘Patchwork’ follows the release of ‘Run Rapid’ also taken from the new album. The previous single is inspired by the composition work of Basil Kirchin and the jazzy percussive breaks, trippy mellotron, warped guitars, violin and looming bass from the underbelly play out like a daring and seductive slice of film noir, which showcases diverse sonic textures and tempos found on the fascinating record Contact.

The new album follows the release of Inner Space Music (2022) and Rural Tapes (2021). The previous albums were released to vast critical praise and further cemented Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen as a vital name from the Norwegian music scene.

On Contact Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen plays organs, synthesizers, mellotron, piano, drums, drum machines, percussion, acoustic guitar, zither, gamelan, tuba, field recordings and tape units. He is joined in parts by Lars Løberg Tofte (bass), Marin Stallemo Bakke (violin), Sigurd Thomassen (acoustic guitar) and Øystein Braut (electric & steel guitar).

CONTACT TRACK LISTING
A1 Patchwork
A2 Opus 1
A3 Tape Collage #1
A4 By Dawn

B1 Run Rapid
B2 Check One, Two
B3 Alien Territories
B4 Waves

All songs written, arranged, produced & mixed by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen at Nygrenda Vev & Dur
Mastered by Anders Bjelland at Broen Studios
Artwork tapestry by Kristin Sæterdal - "Server", 2018. © Kristin Sæterdal / BONO 2023

Lars Løberg Tofte - bass guitar on B1 & B4
Marin Stallemo Bakke - violins on B1 & B4
Sigurd Thomassen - acoustic guitar on B4
Øystein Braut - electric guitar & steel guitar on B1