Kasper Bjørke/ Standing On Top Of Utopia

Kasper Bjørke
Standing On Top Of Utopia
(HFN Music)

If we told you that Standing On Top Of Utopia is a ‘Who’s Who’ of Danish musicians, you’d probably greet us with the sort of vacant stare usually reserved for introductions to distant relatives and run-ins with oxygen thieves.
Whilst the names may be new to you, those looking for a gateway into the evidently burgeoning Danish music scene really couldn’t ask for anything better – and we mean that sincerely.
Kasper Bjørke made a name for himself by spending the better part of a decade honing his production and DJing skills on Copenhagen’s electronic scene, and the slick production and very deliberately structured club tracks on Standing On Top Of Utopia suggest that this was time well spent.
It’s become all too easy to hear synth-based songs and instantly toss it into the ‘electro’ pile – forgetting, of course, that there are many shades of grey within the genre. Bjørke hits nearly every one of these on Standing On Top Of Utopia, spinning the listener from the LCD Soundsystem-esque cuts of ‘Alcatraz’, through to the scuzzy club beat of ‘Melmax’ (TV puppet Alf’s home planet, trivia fans) without so much as bating an eyelid.
Whilst the single, ‘Young Again’, makes a conscious effort to be more accessible, there are greater depths to this album that show Bjørke is ready to make the leap from club maestro to radio-friendly unit shifter.