Highasakite - Camp Echo [CD]

As one of seven detention camps within Guantanamo Bay, Camp Echo is a brooding proposition. It's entrenched in historical discourse, but for Highasakite's Ingrid Helene Håvik, 'Camp Echo' is more a state of mind. It forms the basis of Highasakite's highly anticipated follow-up to debut LP 'Silent Treatment' - an effort acclaimed by 2x Norwegian Grammys, an IMPALA Nomination (European Independent Album of the Year), Triple J Hottest 100 (AUS) placing with single 'Since Last Wednesday', Album/Single of the Year listings on NPR (US) and tippings from the likes of Pitchfork, NME and The Guardian. Highasakite are now claiming the record for longest consecutive run in Norwegian chart history, having spent 94 weeks in the Top 40. The songs took shape over the 18 months leading to 2016, serving an internal memoir of the outward events that so dramatically shaped Håvik's worldview. It's a long time in the making, stemming back to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "I remember that day and I remember the world being so divided," she says. "My whole town in Ålesund (Norway) gathered for this really big demonstration against the war in Iraq and I remember being part of that. It's a part of us and our history, and for me, it formed a realisation of the world we live in. Sonically speaking, 'Camp Echo' exists somewhere between the mid 1980s–90s; pulling inspiration from electro-industrial heavyweights The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails, and owing much to the production smarts of Kåre Christoffer Vestrheim (who also produced 'Silent Treatment'). Given the band's largely electronic output, it's interesting to note the all-inclusive process that sets them apart from EDM contemporaries.