Dimension Scrolling by Olli Aarni

With pop music reaching a point of nostalgically throwing back to an era already composed of nostalgic throwbacks, we ought to step back and consider: is the music we’re being sold actually real? Experimental artist Olli Aarni forces us to confront this question on Dimension Scrolling, a collage of pop-like sounds that assert their legitimacy while openly flouting conventions of narrative and form. Each individual element of these songs would, with less distortion, feel right at home on the radio, from the shimmery snippets of acoustic instruments to the glittery flickers of synthesizer motifs. Likewise, the soothing, half-spoken vocals feel perfectly acoustically treated to thrive on the top 40 charts. However, we’re forced to question the legitimacy of the melodic and lyrical storytelling of pop music by this album’s sheer absurdity. This album could refer equally convincingly to any era of synthetic pop music, much of which was designed in turn to refer back to earlier traditions of danceable popular music or lyrical baroque pop. The references lead nowhere, pointing back to nothing, unprepared to find anything in the future.