Tipped Bowls

Copenhagen, Denmark's Nick Eriksen debuted on Fool House with a 2011 EP led by swirling, heavens-reaching tracks like "Ocean" and "Girls." The release was supported by Trentemøller and Michael Mayer, the latter of whom signed the producer to Cologne's Kompakt label. This self-titled set is the follow-up — Eriksen's first album as Taragana Pyjarama. It's neither as spooky nor as makeshift as the cover might indicate. Instead, the majority of the material is more likely to evoke idyllic scenes with backdrops decked out in colorful thickets. The sound, however, is hardly one-dimensional. In fact, some of its sequences are paced somewhat like a set by Tobias Thomas, a DJ who released three mixes for Kompakt (Für Dich, Smallville, and Please Please Please). The floating ambience of "Four Legged" and light prickle-pulses of "Growing Forehead" (with a distant, repeated one-line vocal from Kiki Halmos) pass before a single beat is heard. The following track, "Lo Ng," is anchored by deep, foreboding bass notes and is the album's darkest moment, yet the unease is tempered with burbling, sproingy FX. The two-part "Pinned" offers whirling percussion clusters, cartoonish blips, and off-center thrums shooting in numerous directions. "Ballibat"'s uneasy gait, almost too complex to allow room for its video game samples, is as dizzying. Succinct at 45 minutes, this could have used a track or two with the intensity of the EPs' highlights. It's surprisingly mellow and restrained.