Suction Records welcomes Roger Semsroth back to the label – having previously released 2 full-length albums with us under his retired electro-pop alias, Skanfrom. “Grøndal” is the debut vinyl release under a new alias, Nordvest.
These days, Semsroth is best-known for his stark and minimalist techno project, Sleeparchive. The material on Grøndal – icy, melodic, and mostly beatless – is comprised of tracks that were originally released digitally as Sleeparchive, via Bandcamp. The releases were met with general disinterest from Sleeparchive fans, prompting Semsroth to re-brand them as Nordvest, before removing them from Bandcamp altogether.
We’ve chosen 11 highlights from 3 of those digital albums, “Rooftops & Chaotic Streets”, “Scribbles”, and “Sleepless”, for a cohesive 11-track LP of austere, synthetic ambience. Think Tangerine Dream as reinterpreted by Incunabula-era Autechre, and you might be getting somewhere close. While “Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Seven” recalls Sleeparchive, and “Sleepless Six” could very well be a lost Skanfrom track, the rest of the LP clearly warrants a new alias - Nordvest is a new side of Semsroth that we haven’t heard before.
| A1 | Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Five |
| A2 | Scribbles Nine |
| A3 | Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Seven |
| A4 | Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Eight |
| A5 | Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Four |
| B1 | Sleepless Six |
| B2 | Sleepless One |
| B3 | Scribbles Two |
| B4 | Sleepless Two |
| B5 | Rooftops & Chaotic Streets Six |
| B6 | Scribbles Seven |
