Morphtables Returns with Absurdance, an IDM Album Steeped in Craft, Not Nostalgia

The 14 tracks of Absurdance, the new Morphtables album on Russian label Mestnost, are built from familiar materials: crisp braindance programming, melodic synth lines pulled from early IDM, breakbeats that land somewhere between precise fracturing and downtempo drift. Pavel Ukolov, the project’s sole member, doesn’t treat these sounds as artifacts. Instead, they function as a working vocabulary, shaped into something steady and unforced.

Opener “Tarlabasi” sets the tone—technoid structures wrapped around a melodic core, the kind of balance that defines much of the record. Tracks like “Model” move into glitchier, bass-forward space, while “Imaginary Orchestra” layers dark melodic figures with restraint. The title track injects a bounce of 8-bit rhythm, and “Pipes” offers a brief, ambient flute interlude. Throughout, Ukolov avoids grand gestures; the album’s strength is in how it handles its influences without leaning on them for effect.

What emerges is an album that values continuity over disruption. “Silhouettes” foregrounds vintage analog synthesizer textures, not as a period piece but as a practical choice that suits the record’s mood. Closer “Pendulums” brings saturated bass and melodic synth phrases into a controlled collision, a fitting end to a set that treats memory as a tool, not a crutch. Absurdance is an IDM record in the original sense: intelligent, workmanlike, and uninterested in explaining itself.