Animatronics by Rolando Simmons

Mattias Östling makes a welcome return to Love Love as Rolando Simmons for new LP 'Animatronics' after recent forays on Analogical Force and Furthur Electronix and nearly 8 years on from his Love Love debut 'World Building'. Hailing from rural Sweden, Östling creates understated but rich and dreamlike productions which have seen him become a familiar name beyond the braindance circles his music first found a home in.

As is characteristic of Rolando Simmons' work, a strong sense of narrative runs throughout this LP. 'Animatronics' stylistically plays across the gamut of Electronica, from the lush, playful braindance of 2nd track 'Purple Soap', to the upbeat syncopated rhythms within 'GlobalGroove Dust Club', and the slowly advancing icy ambient techno dirge of closer 'Memory Defrost'. The ephemeral ambient elements laced throughout allude to a sense of comfortable sedation but darker shades no doubt loom beneath. Measured in its operation and warm in its presentation, the album often steers into unknown spaces, moving through a range of tonal shifts, all the while feeling contained within a unified and detailed imaginary world.


Mattias describes the process behind the album in his own words:

"Work on Animatronics began almost immediately after the release of 'World Building', following a brief bout of writer’s block. The process involved phoning friends and colleagues to discuss creative routines and technical ideas. These conversations invariably veered into tangents—fringe subjects and fantastical, unrelated scenarios.

One evening, while revisiting some phone doodles and reflecting on our chats, I was struck by a sudden rush of euphoria. That moment became the foundation for the entire album. It felt like the sort of dreamlike epiphany one always hopes for during a creative block. In that instant, I envisioned the whole album as a documentary-style piece set in a massive, absurdist shopping mall, a century into the future. Here, bizarre commodities are manufactured and sold; people inhabit various social strata, from claustrophobic plastic housing units to lavish, sprawling private structures. Only later did I discover that the artist Pushwagner had portrayed a similarly surreal environment in his 1970s psychedelic graphic novel Soft City. But at the time, I was blissfully unaware of this parallel.

Work commenced in earnest. I contacted the most imaginative (and forgiving) mastering engineer I know—Robin Harwood—and asked if he’d help bring to life a sound reminiscent of the 1992 film Toys, laced with elements of Blade Runner, Alien, and A Clockwork Orange. To my delight, he agreed. I proceeded to inundate him with months’ worth of rambling, unfinished monologues about rogue teddy bears burdened with homicidal guilt, sentient toasters, hermetically sealed sound stages, and whatever else emerged while shaping the album’s atmosphere.

There are, of course, some underlying themes that intertwine with the album’s fantasy. One of these is the peculiar loneliness that comes from immersing oneself in a solitary creative practice. This is a longstanding theme for musicians, painters, and writers, yet it remains compelling precisely because it’s so subjective."