Ahead of the release of his next album Klangre, Aleksander Kostopoulos keeps momentum building with 'Mendokaa' - a track that, particularly when pared with first single 'Hbrae', feels as uplifting as it does timely.

Timely because now, in the global north, the nights are beginning to draw in. The sun is lower in the sky, the air crisper, but the afterglow of a summer still vivid in the memory remains, if only just.

It's a feeling that, in Aleksander's hometown of Bodø - just north of the Arctic Circle - comes on earlier, and stronger. And listening to 'Mendokaa', it's something that doesn't so much as shine through but reverberates across the four-plus minutes of delicate chimes, soft pads, and cinematic overtures.

As the track begins, it's hard not to draw comparisons to maestros of minimalism, like Steve Reich, or Philip Glass. But no sooner have you settled into these hypnotic rhythms, the pace shifts: those pads, not quite thudding, but locking the groove in regardless. As the beat builds, eyes slip into soft focus. There is no soaring crescendo - the pay off here is far more subtle. There is an unmistakable warmth here, and it stays with you throughout.

If all of that sounds a little too sentimental, well, that's just part of what Aleksander does. Through previous work in bands like ISÁK, or in compositions made for the big screen, there is a sense that this is music created to soundtrack time, place - and feeling, too.