JanushovedNew Nordic Romances

The presence of Janushoved tape-only releases is ephemeral in the underground. The limited-run releases are sold out quickly and there are not many reissues (apart from a few great reissues on vinyl by Putojefe Records). The label tries to maintain its invisibility and therefore maintains a certain secrecy with regard to its consistent output. Moreover, Janushoved mostly sticks to relative anonymity. Apart from the fact that quite a number of names can be identified as projects of label owner Mikkel Valentin Dunkerley, the majority of the remaining ones are shrouded in a fog of depersonalisation, with oblique tape covers and sparse discogs info. It seems that Janushoved is a tool to channel certain harmonies and aesthetics without concentrating on who is behind them, thus eliminating any mundane aspect. In this respect it reminds early rave releases, when the stream of output was poured without much of a trace to identify producers by. All we have given to us are just these synth-based new romantic sounds born in cold Scandinavian cityscapes and riddled with both anxiety and a touch of the sublime.

The most recent releases come from Tevere (Gather and Disperse), Mercury Ribbon (The Green Nail Polish Made His Toes Look Like Emeralds) and an Internazionale & Angeles collab (Vigilance). Each reveals a different angle to the label’s aesthetics. These records come from long-term label participants and from a couple of names that are a bit more difficult to identify. The name “Tevere” does not have many references surrounding it. The tough to identify aesthetic object on the cover echoes the design patterns of the label, but apart from that we have no more reason for prejudice. The content blows us away with a few stunning ambient pieces that sound like something made by Eno if he were to move into the cassette culture underground and go for lo-fi DIY aesthetics. A few lush pieces wrap around in comforting melancholy and repetition. Careful traces of rhythm slowly lead the way forward, never disturbing the flow of the waves that leave one balancing between tranquility and anxious excitement.

Mercury Ribbon is another entity without much info surrounding it, although it has two previous releases on Janushoved. The sound is closer to Internazionale’s vivid ambient synth explorations, yet operates on a denser, at times lightly industrialised scale, thus retaining the same traces of melodic/melancholic texture. Synth pads float over soft traces of rhythm and at times reach slightly neurotic phases. This is a more restless affair, in a way even similar to Helm’s recent output, transferred into a more lo-fi realm. The collaboration between Internazionale and Angeles (the moniker of singer Soho Rezanejad) is the most dramatic and tense of these three releases. The presence of rhythmics is more prevalent here and tracks almost reach the intensity of the moodier fringes of techno. The music has a strange quality of unrest and epic sensibility.

Janushoved is exciting due to its consistency. Every new stylistic field is carefully integrated into the coherent nature of the label and explored within it. Thus most of the releases are like different parts of the same narrative, a continuation of a story and the next bits are really intriguing.