Polish electronic producer Marcin Jarmulski first emerged back in 2005 on the War Office Propaganda label with his debut album as Haven ‘The Last Breath Of Lonely Buildings’, and since then he’s managed to release a further two albums under the moniker – 2006’s ‘Naos’ and 2008’s ‘[A2982].’ This latest album ‘Plastic’ represents Jarmulski’s first album for the Chicago-based Tympanik Audio label as well as his fourth Haven overall, and sees him continuing to explore an icy yet graceful dark downbeat path that’s as equally influenced by the ambient wash of Tangerine Dream’s more foreboding moments, as it is by more contemporary IDM structures. Opening track ‘Tell Me About Madness’ certainly sets the scene well, with the sampled title phrase being pitchshifted and digitally treated as it slides against a shimmering backdrop of Carpenter-esque ambient synthscapes and pulsing bleeps, but it’s not until the eerie, Middle Eastern-tinged ‘Marrakech’ that the grinding glitchy rhythms really start to kick in as Muezzin-styled vocal washes flit like distant ghosts against sinister pressurised hisses and dark bass synth swells, in a highlight offering here that calls to mind Raoul Sinier’s contorted nightmare electronics pushed into a Persian bazaar.
Elsewhere, ‘Let’s Play The Disco Now’ sees proceedings venturing towards more upbeat bpms with harsh industrial beats coming to the foreground, but it’s a juxtaposition that ends up sitting a little awkwardly against the surrounding classical piano keys and swirling, soft-focus synth pads, the graceful ‘Les Choses’ offering up a considerably more convincing fusion of broken electro rhythms and understated symphonic elegance as distant female vocal samples mutter just below the threshold of hearing. While throughout there’s a convincing sense of icy and dark downbeat atmosphere conjured up over the 14 tracks here, the repeated re-use of the same musical elements such as sweeping, melancholic prog synth pads, creepy spoken samples and shimmering synth arpeggiation means that things start to get a little same-y after a while. Luckily, there’s a couple of excellent remixes from labelmates Aphorism and Tapage packed in right at the end to liven things up a little.
Chris Downton
