Celebrated Norwegian audiovisual-drummer and composer Aleksander Kostopoulos releases his fifth studio album Fango on Beatservice Records. A truly captivating, visceral experience, the seven tracks unfold as a voyage through sound, feeling, and memory. Blending sweeping acoustic strings With live drums, electronic touches and cinematic soundscapes, the album is a masterclass in composition, space and storytelling.

Hailing from Bodø, Norway, Aleksander has a gift for creating film-score-worthy songs that bridge the gap between introspective and enlivening. Alongside his solo productions he is known for his work as part of the Sami pop trio ISÁK, and has collaborated with fellow Norwegian artists including Mari Boine, Adjagas, Marthe Valle and Moddi. Across Fango, he is joined by string quartet Ensemble Noor, with guest artists Arve Henriksen, Daniel Herskedal and Ragnhild Tronsmo.

The album's journey begins with 'mbaoe'. An expansive, atmospheric layering of strings from Ensemble Noor, melds with Kostopoulos' shimmering synthesis that patiently builds to a climax before falling back into the ether.

That ebbing and flowing is a thread that runs throughout Fango. What began in an ethereal realm soon moves up in intensity. 'Mrtts' opens with Daniel Herskedal's hauntingly beautiful bass trumpet, as the stunning string accompaniment from Ensemble Noor and cellist Tronsmo dial up the emotion. Organic meets electronic erupting in a synergy of metallic percussive beats, interstellar synthlines and thundering bass.

Next, 'Hrag' adds movement and energy. Like a brooding storm, the pattering of the plucked strings are joined by a deluge of subaquatic rumblings, machine-like percussion and soaring strings. Continuing this dramatic odyssey 'Reneba' is a blistering yet blissful neo-classically tinged drum and bass dreamscape. Drawn in once more by the strings of the Ensemble Noor and Tronsmo, you slip through the spacetime continuum carried by textured basslines and shapeshifting breakbeats.

A wave of serenity washes over you via 'Guntra', a scenic string-laden score that resets the brain and body before the final flourish. First, 'Kograe' merges those earthly tones with explorative electronics. Arve Henriksen's deft trumpet enters into a ghostly dance with the cello of Tronsmo and Kostopoulos' reverberating piano. Gradually the glitching beats join the rhythm as a driving kick guides the journey. The night falls, the tempo drops and the elements disperse.

Finally, 'falaBi' feels like a culmination of everything built up across the album to that point. A tangible composition full of colour, emotion and intellect, where analogue and synthesised elements revolve around each other in blissful harmony. An immersive closing track, giving power and presence to both dancefloors and dreams.

Capturing imaginations from start to finish, Fango shows how sound can paint the most vivid of scenes in the mind and presents Kostopoulos' most accomplished work to date.