croatian amor: love means taking action

Multi-faceted Copenhagen-based artist Loke Rahbek presents Love Means Taking Action under his alias Croatian Amor. It is the first full-length Croatian Amor recording since 2014's The Wild Palms, a release that was made available on cassette for a single month, and only in exchange for a nude self-portrait. Since the inception of the project, Croatian Amor has dealt with a mixture of fiction and reality, often using real events and places as a platform for a largely fictional play. Where there is playfulness, there is revelation. On Love Means Taking Action - without a doubt the project's strongest work to date - the effect of the perpetual collaging of information is keenly felt. Short, unnerving moments appear with slick familiarity. Voices repeat and quietly glitch through tonal shifts. Listeners are ushered along by the shuddering effect of the samples and field recordings on the pristine synthesis, with motifs and plot lines presented as quickly as they disintegrate. Listeners are enticed to find comfort here but are not guided through a space as with much ambient music. The textures and terrains that Love Means Taking Action presents form an array of scenarios with what at times feels like a punishing degree of indifference to the listener. Listeners are bluntly shown snippets of impassioned architectures. It is a process that draws the listener in through alienation.