Hailing from Bodø, Norway, Aleksander Kostopoulos 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 with the Sami pop trio ISÁK, and has collaborated with fellow Norwegian artists including Mari Boine, Adjagas, Marthe Valle and Moddi. On his latest long-form project, ‘Fango’, he is joined by string trio Ensemble Noor, with guest artists Arve Henriksen, Daniel Herskedal and Ragnhild Tronsmo. It blends sweeping acoustic strings with live drums, electronic touches and cinematic soundscapes that make for a masterclass in composition, space and storytelling.
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. The album begins with ‘mbaoe’, an expansive, atmospheric layering of strings from Ensemble Noor that melds with Kostopoulos’ shimmering synthesis and patiently builds to a climax before falling back into the ether. That ebb and flow runs throughout ‘Fango’. What begins in an ethereal realm soon rises in intensity. ‘Mrtts’ opens with Daniel Herskedal’s hauntingly beautiful bass trumpet, as the stunning string accompaniment from Ensemble Noor and cellist Tronsmo dials up the emotion.
Next, ‘hrag’ adds movement and energy. Like a brooding storm, the pattering 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. ‘Kograe’ merges those earthy tones with explorative electronics as Arve Henriksen’s deft trumpet enters a ghostly dance with Tronsmo’s cello and Kostopoulos’ reverberating piano. 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.
Aleksander Kostopoulos’s ‘Fango LKP’ comes on Beatservice on 13th November 2026.
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Tracklist
1. mbaoe
2. Mrtts
3. hrag
4. reneba
5. guntra
6. Kograe
7. falaBi