Gaute Granli – Animalskt LP - The edges of the cover have very light wear from shipping to Stickfigure

Gaute Granli – Animalskt LP - The edges of the cover have very light wear from shipping to Stickfigure

The first full-length release by Gaute Granli features the Stavanger, Norway-based musician using Jandekian guitar and experimental electronics to fashion a hazy, skronky, left-field, blue exotica noir that’s toppled with confusion and discomfort.

The original compositions, often supported by a diseased drum machine and/or jangling guitar loop and/or narcotic-abused electronics, demonstrates a pluckier guitar sound and some “rock song structures” from the member of Scandinavian noise rock band Freddy the Dyke.

“Can’t Have More Fun” is an unhinged romp through a decaying scene of blips and bloops and features sardonic, nonfigurative vocals, while the title track could be an appropriate tune to play over and over and over while stuck inside for eight consecutive months due to the Scandinavian winter.

The sing-along quality of “Medisinert” eventually disintegrates into an abstract curly Q guitar predicament, and then the tune bleeds into “Kennel Soda,” which might lull the listener into a deep sleep on top of a bed of sharp pebbles.

The nine-track album concludes with the penultimate “Middlemådig Blå Blues,” an all-instrumental cold plunge into the inanity of existence, and the final nail in the coffin, “Ride of the Year,” which features vocals by Oslo-based contemporary visual artist and musician Urd J. Pedersen.