I never used to like the term folktronic – not because I didn’t like the music, but because it is the type of term that can come to be a boundary for lesser artists to bind themselves to, rather than a post-creation description of the sincere work of an artist. But I continually come across excellent artists and their work for whom folktronic really is the most accurate description.
Of course, there is a strong template set down by artists such as Tunng and Leafcutter John, but the fact is that there is a vast amount of sonic terrain open to exploration when you begin to consider the scope of ‘folk’ instruments and electronic manipulation. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that a relatively unknown artist like Teamforest can release an album that both fits into the folktronic pigeonhole and maintain a sprawling array of creative manipulation.
Leave is a concept album of sorts, where Philipp Bückle explores the act of leaving his hometown of Dortmund, Germany. He hasn’t actually left – in the physical sense – but feelings of melancholy, longing and distance are always apparent, both lyrically and in the disintegration of selected sounds. Slightly out of tune guitars feel like you are in Bückle’s bedroom with him, until a melodica swathed in reverb, bitcrushed percussion and the same guitar reversed displace any sense of being able to pinpoint proceedings to one spot (‘Leave Your Dreams’). At times, very robust rhythms up the ‘tronic’ quotient to higher levels than is normally found in folktronic, but their simplicity helps them find a space to call their own (‘Leave the Boys of Summer’, ‘Leave Your Personal Role Model’).
At just over half an hour, Leave manages to fit a lot in. Teamforest is not mining altogether new territory, but he is certainly plumbing the depths of established territory to find new gems to present on this great album.
Adrian Elmer
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