Varg Nordic Flora, Pt. 2, en Ros röd som Blod

The body of work that Jonas “Varg” Rönnberg has managed to produce and release within the span of only a few years is almost unfathomable. The manifestations seem to flow endless and while the sheer amount is impressive in its own right, it is even more noticeable that while the amount is so vast he manages somehow to always keep an incredibly high standard in his output.

Last year saw the release of his mammoth work for Posh Isolation entitled Star Alliance, originally presented as a six-tape box set and later reissued in a selection as a double LP. With Star Alliance we saw Varg with a stronger sense of narrative and a wider palette of sound and technique than we had known him for previously. With the new sizable project from Varg; the Nordic Flora-series we see this potential further explored.

En Ros Röd Som Blod is the second release in the series, and is released only weeks after Nordic Flora pt. 1, Heroine was released by his and Abdullah Rashim’s Northern Electronics label.

While “Heroine” was a manifestation of Varg’s most direct techno appliance, the approach on “En Ros” is more diverse. It is the Varg we know from earlier releases, moving between ambience, 4/4 techno beats and sound collages as seamless as ever, even when the surprising element of free jazz drumming is added to techno tracks late in the release, it blends in with such natural elegance that the listener never starts to think of how they ended up there.

For the second release of the Nordic Flora-series, Varg shows yet again that he is not only willing and capable of pushing the boundaries of what techno can and should be able to communicate, but in his usual 70% musical genius, 30% internet troll-like way, that he simply can’t help it.