Review Summary: Sweden's latest electronic export Rolando Simmons enters 2016 with a low-key, masterfully crafted EP.
“Yuo’re Life” marks a new year for Rolando Simmons, the lesser-known talent emerging from the seclusion of a small coastal village in Sweden. 2015 proved to be an extraordinarily prolific year for Rolando, resulting in the release of 3 EPs, as well as ‘Volumes’, a staggering 38-track collection granting the listener the ability to hear the evolution of the project from its inception, and also serving to illustrate the large pallet of styles and sounds he has at his disposal. Be it vast analogue-crafted soundscapes, funk-injected, thudding bass lines, warm, teeming melodies, or exploration in territories more dark and strange, ‘Volumes’ was all over the place in the best way possible. Fortunately, Rolando’s attention to detail and willingness to venture down uncharted avenues of sound itself, as well as its synthesis, are once again on full display in a more concentrated, focused effort.
Despite the grim display of death that graces the EP’s cover and a song named after the Axis of Evil, the misspelled “Yuo’re Life You’r Tsois” spray painted on the wall of an abandoned building in an existence plagued with death and desolation implies that there’s some kind of dark humor at work here. If anything, this includes some of his most vibrant sounding work to date. The self-titled opener,“Yuo’re Life You’r Tsois”, introduces the listener to more frenetic territory, and includes squelchy, acid synth lines interwoven across audio channels, slowly mutating as it advances until finally giving way to some sort of indecipherable chorus that sounds like the product of artificial intelligence. It’s no huge wonder that Aphex Twin took a liking to the song himself, among other notable figures within the electronic music community. Unfortunately for Rolando, however, Rephlex is dead, and there’s no record deal with Warp, Planet Mu or any other leading label around to help hype him up. Once a collaborative effort between two brothers, Rolando Simmons is now, and has been for a while, the sole effort of Mattias Östling. He wrote and (with the exception of the opening track) produced this EP, and drew the artwork as well. Apparently, working independently suits him just fine.
“Dreamwave” is likely the warmest sounding song in Rolando’s body of work. One of his signatures is his tendency to accentuate and use the bass as a focal point on tracks, but here it is the amazing swells of sound that flow in and out of the song like a calm breeze that move the song to another level. From there the EP transitions into “Axis of Evil”, whose somber chords are quickly replaced by the chime of a bell which is propelled down a corridor where audio seems to phase in and out to the sound ratcheting drums until a funky, yet suitably ominous sounding bass arrives. The beat builds with intesity until finally the melody that seemed like no more than a fleeting memory at the begininng of the track makes a full return and sends the song off in an ethereal fashion.
“Yuo’re Life” is merely a glimpse into the world of Rolando Simmons. Aside from being a great sounding record, however, it also reaffirms that one of the more creative and musically adept individuals in electronic music today is still growing, and if his track record is a reliable indication of what we may expect, 2016 may see his best offering yet.
http://rolandosimmons.bandcamp.com/album/yuore-life
https://soundcloud.com/rolando-simmons
