Review: Kiasmos at The Rechabite
Kiasmos at The Rechabite
w/ Juno Mamba
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
With Perth having entered that relatively short window of time where we are greeted with morning dew and clouding breath most mornings as the winter cold seeps in, it seems only appropriate we host the beloved Icelandic/Faroese electronic duo Kiasmos, whose minimal yet epic soundscapes brought a snapshot of an even deeper, and also more beautiful, chill to an already cool Wednesday night at The Rechabite.
Up first on the decks was Juno Mamba, a seasoned and fast-rising producer and DJ who opened for New Order earlier this year (indeed, a Blue Monday remix got a look in during the set) and has in the past been supported by triple j, BBC Radio One and Resident Advisor. His reputation bore out in a decently sized crowd for an opener. His music is a mix of breakbeat, techno and trance, often featuring breathy soul vocals. Bright sequenced synth arpeggios and lush pads were the order of the day, with the music striking the right balance between epic and heartfelt. Snatches of drum and bass, UK garage, and straight-ahead 4/4 deep house gave the set a flexible rhythmic backbone, and with powerful tracks like G2G and the recent Meant2Be under his belt, Juno Mamba highly impressed.
After a short break, Kiasmos were on, manning two decks perpendicular to one another on the unlit stage. The group is the duo of Ólafur Arnalds (Iceland) and Janus Rasmussen (Faroe Islands), who formed the project in the late 2000s while well into their respective careers as an opportunity to explore minimal electronic music with a techno backbone. Both are established musicians and producers in their own right.
Ólafur in particular is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who has seen a lot of success in his solo and scoring work in the ambient/electronic and sometimes modern classical realm, with several national awards as well as Grammy and Emmy nominations under his belt. Aside from synths and controllers, the duo also had electronic keyboards, which were used throughout the set as some of the track’s piano parts were played live. Overall the tracks were played very straight, but with such a small yet strong discography, there was little tampering needed. Their latest album, last year’s simply titled II, came a decade after its predecessor yet didn’t sound aged by a day. The single-word adjective song titles help too.
An ambient wall of swirling synths opened proceedings before Kiasmos launched into early standout Looped. It’s arguably the duo’s most famous track and instantly had the crowd swaying, with a gradual build that hits a type of epic yet laid-back crescendo quite unique to the Kiasmos sound. It gave way to the playful synth chirps of Laced, with the lights taking on a warmer hue and the track’s backbeat more prominent. The pads and steadily undulating synth pulse of Bound came next, and the crowd’s reaction to the, once again, epic yet supremely minimal ‘drop’ demonstrated the love in the crowd for the band’s craft.
Latest track (and a rare non-adjective), Sisteron, followed. The duo were bathed in purple and white during this soft number, which was fertile ground for Ólafur’s soft keyboard melodies. Sailed from their latest LP followed in a smart bit of track sequencing, its bass beefed up live and the louder percussion providing more drive. The straight-ahead groove of Told was next, another track featuring Kiasmos’ unique take on tension and release, much to the crowd’s delight. Blurred followed, seeing Ólafur laying down some soft chords over its distinctive swishing groove.
Later in the set, the chirpy riff of Burst had the audience moving and whooping during the song’s breakdown, and the winding rhythms of the appropriately named Spun saw the duo laying down some nice string effects. The foreboding Thrown took things into slightly darker territory as the volume rose to match the song’s drive. Burnt kept things dark and rumbly, a study in minimal atmospherics that swelled and then crashed like a wave into the minimal Gaunt. The anaesthetising synths of Squared and the track’s big conclusion made it an excellent choice to end the main set.
Some PA issues meant the duo were away from the decks a bit longer than intended, and on their return the issue resurfaced, causing a further delay. The pause was taken well, however, with one punter screaming out to be told a Viking story. Ólafur and Janus were no marauders, however, cordial throughout the evening and acknowledging how good it was to be back for the first time in a whopping nine years. Indeed the final encore salvo, featuring the driving techno of classic Bent, demonstrated how much Kiasmos have been missed. It was a night of soundscapes that were atmospheric, driving, meditative, and transcendent in equal measure.
MATIJA ZIVKOVIC
Photos by Adrian Thomson
