artist: Orange Crush country of origin: Norway style(s): Ambient pop/techno, impressionist, low-fi, environmental essential releases: The Fields (2006, Archaic Horizon) Autumn Reflections (2009, Archaic Horizon)

Orange Crush is Norwegian composer Karl Endreson whose tech-pop instrumentals are lyrical, dreamy and gently trance-inducing. His debut album The Fields and its follow-up Autumn Reflections are wondrous things, two collections of short tone poems for autumn with achingly beautiful drones and hazy melodies arranged with a variety of downtempo beat patterns.

Endreson is an impressionist, as is made clear by titles like "Waterflow", "Neon Dreams" and "By The Shores". Like the undeniably similar Boards Of Canada he's rather fond of pitch flutters and artificially aging his sounds, a technique that gives some of his landscaped compositions the vague fuzziness of imperfect or fading memories. The good news is that he does it his own way so he's not really mimicking anyone. His beats lack the brittleness of classic B.O.C. for one thing, and his synth tones are also consistently warm.

Soft in sound yet rarely lightweight, these albums make for a highly seductive trip and each play offers more revelations.

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