Reviews 406: Bermano
One of the most emotionally enveloping, richly textured, and rhythmically hypnotizing albums I have come across in a while is Phosphene by Bermano, released earlier this year on NOIDED. Bermano is an Australian producer currently living in Mexico, and while the artist has a classical musical background, the sound of Phosphene is heavily immersed in the depths of bass music, jungle, and DnB. Indeed, across two sides of the Phosphene cassette, Bermano sculpts and structures the rhythmic forms from these sorcerous club styles into a bedrock for blissful melancholia, over which entire wondrous worlds of melodic motion unfold...worlds that reference and build from the tones, timbres, and textures of spiritualist sitar ambiance, melting and mesmeric UKG, woozy and wavering future jazz, dreamtime downtempo, cinematic post-rock, and more besides.
In the write-up for the album on the NOIDED Bandcamp, the label mentions influences such as Aphex Twin, Djrum, and Talvin Singh, all of which give an excellent reference point the many atmospheres and vibes that appear throughout Phosphene. But the album is also so much more than an amalgamation of these influences, and represents a truly special statement of artistic intent, one that merges captivating, complex, and colorful tapestries of exotic emotional melody with dynamic, kinetic, and imaginative displays of rhythmic intensity, resulting in the kind of sweeping, soul-stirring, and body grooving adventure that only comes around ever so often.
Bermano - Phosphene (NOIDED, 2026) The A-side opens with “Xyloflare,” which sees anticipation building on chittering and hollow rave sequences, while DnB drum patterns build up through the euphoric murk. A laidback downbeat glow emerges, which skips and shuffles through the shadows of a lost paradise, wherein ambient aethers shine out with an anxious energy. The kick cuts away, leaving the heart floating untethered in a calming tonal void, and when the bass drum returns, the track takes on a more pronounced jungle-style energy, as subsuming subsonic waves billow out beneath soft delay star trails, before everything filters into a whispered silence. Album highlight “Samay” comes next, developing out of calming currents of devotional sitar serenity, which create a spiraling and cinematic soundbath of light and wonder. Amen-esque breaks fade in underneath as golden tones decay towards a sun-burst horizon, and subdued voice samples buried deep in the background guide the progression until the track takes on its full form. Blooming basslines with an organic feel guide a kinetic jungle beat barage as heavenly waves of Indian classical web weaving melt and mesmerise overhead…resulting in a paradise panorama of world music mysticism that is overwhelmingly majestic and magical in the way it sweeps the soul off to some fantasy landscape of ancient and esoteric impossibility. The rhythms continuously erupt through electrifying displays of hyper-dynamic breakbeat brilliance, doing their part to push the track into a reverential 90s junglist space, while overhead, the melodic aspects take the mind and body to another world altogether. Indeed, the shimmering Eastern string drones place the spiritual self somewhere in the Indian subcontinent…maybe even several centuries ago…as if the imagination is invited to explore a host of hidden temples within a mythical merging of mountains, deserts, coastal plains, and tropical rainforests. Everything is further surrounded by an aura ecstatic ascension, helped by choral voices that seem to sing towards an eternal sky, while trilling trails of chakra-opening sparkle emerge from the holy miasma.
“Keep Forget” foregrounds snippets of singing, and starts as plucked folk strings and flutes pads pan across the spectrum while euphoric pixie pop voices drift like layered lightwaves. The beats evolve into a manic mantra of tribalistic percussion that seems to ricochet off all surfaces of the mix, with patterns of DnB and jungle merging into a modernistic melange while lush and low down masculine voices sing their lulling and time-stretched lyricisms. A sort of chorus sees a further explosion into layered feminine angel ecstasies and deep, syrupy, and sensual pop panoramas that swim all around the spectrum, and alongside these paradisiacal vocal stylings descend rainbow-colored lullaby melodies, which seem to caress the soul with a sense of longing and narcotic nostalgia. Static breaths build and everything filters towards a glitch heavy breakdown before an eruption back into the hyperkinetic drum work…these absolutely breathtaking displays of rhythmic programming softened by pillowy layers of pure vocal ecstasy that drift and decay while liquid pads transmute into a psychotropic mist. And supporting it all are rhythmic rave sequences which lock into glowstick patterns of retro-leaning and heart-melting rapture. The closing track on the A-side is one the album's most interesting, as it takes the journey out of the landscapes of jungle and DnB, and heads into the sweat-soaked nightscapes of UKG and grime. Scattered and chaotic emcee callouts intertwine over a deep, dark, and sorcerous garage groove…these skipping shadow beats led by infectious cymbal and snare hypnotics. Everything burns down into a malfunctioning haze of hot digital air, before bursting back towards a mind-bending passage of bass music intoxication, which then sets the stage for a manic and mad riot of rap verse weaponry. After this, the track calms down into a floating and futuristic fairy tale of subsonic body bliss, wherein dreamspace tonalities fall like rain until everything slowly vaporizes. This sets up another narcotic build and an eventual drop back into the burning intensities of the grime-style verse…these radical and Caribbean-inflected raps that at some point drift into telephonic pop melancholias, which carry the track away on a final flow of moody and minor-key motion.
On the B-side, the percussive sequencing of “Humo” supports sunrise ambience while another deep, infectious, and grooving garage beat develops beneath cloudforms of pearlescent smoke. I sense a connection to the recent works of Jonnnah in the way it all melds together, and the rhythms almost glide on air, carrying with them with a subtle and ritualistic feel of tribal intensity. Big brass-toned pads fight against their filters as they push through a humid mist of extra-terrestrial origin, and one point significant portions of the mix disperse, only to rush back in, bringing with them a massive Lone-style sequence that flashes through a polychromatic spectrum of oil-slicked neon. All around flash memories of diva voices that seamlessly melt into the background ether, and which add a subtle but effective touch of wistful rave euphoria. Some respite comes at the outset of the title track “Phosphene,” with its wavering winds of angle ambience and heavily affected piano chords wandering through a warbling emptiness. Backgrounding phaser tones massage the mind and broadcast transmissions chitter and gibber high above, while pitter patter percussive strokes add further movement. This bucolic drift is eventually given a more pronounced shape by a dub and DnB-kissed downtempo dreambeat, and the aura of fantasy enchantment is accentuated by gentle sunshowers of some exotic string instrument. There is a sonic connection to the more electronic sides of the mid-2000s post-rock second wave, and as the track goes deeper, seascape hazes and haunted atmospherics further support the modulating piano on its skybound journey.
“One Fell Swoop” features lofi drum loops and searching threads of aqueous ambient immersion that seem to wrap tighty around the heart and soul. There is the feeling of something epic and spiritually arresting building in strength, and indeed it comes—though moreso with a whisper than bang—as the track smoothly glides into a numinous landscape of bass music bewitchment, where an iridescent garage-meets-tribal new age beatscape guides an immersive world music panorama of profound and radiant warmth. And all around, myriad layers of shimmering serenity weave together through shrouds of static while wiggling and weirdo brass leads captivate with their strange and serpentine display. In closing track "Emperor," a swinging and swaying breakbeat moves with the pulse of the universe while galactic energy swells and conversant jazz horns bring beautiful evocations of springtide warmth…though there is still an edge of muted melancholia to the melodic phrasing…which continues to exemplify, even here at the end of the album, Bermano’s deft ability to intermix emotions of ecstasy, energy, and sadness all at once. Looping sequential trance voices flash across the spectrum, giving everything a deeply liquid and lysergic quality as the entire stereo field filters into a wash of white light. This presages a slam back into the breakbeat body flow, and so it goes over and over again…like some yogic breathing exercise…filtering into transcendence, dropping back into the groove…all until the beats never return, leaving the melodious dreamweavings to fade away on synthesized shadow voices and the sad sighs of singing horns.
(images from my personal copy)