Bjorn Torske

Although Norway’s Smalltown Supersound have been around for years, the imprint has undergone something of a revival recently. Much of this has to do with a local community of dance artists that have caught the world’s attention with a decidedly prog outlook on the space disco sound. Bjorn Torske is one such artist. On Feil Knapp, he marries the kind of analog synth compositions undertaken by Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream with slight hints of early ’70s kosmiche and, of course, early ’80s disco. The results are often warm and personable, and often more varied than the rigid and minimal, as the work of Tussle and the Sorcerer (two other recent practitioners of this sound) can sometimes be. On "Spelunker,” Torske even delves into the roots reggae toolbox to pull out a grand spacey dub that brings to mind Augustus Pablo. While not incredibly original in any sense, Feil Knapp is nevertheless a finely crafted recording that won’t disappoint fans of the new space disco.