Downwell by Eirik Suhrke
Downwell by Eirik Suhrke pressed on red vinyl by Black Screen Records
Uroboros
Slip into a timevoid and dive through the depths of the new year with Downwell by Eirik Suhrke. Pressed on red vinyl by Black Screen Records, the soundtrack to Search Results Web results Ojiro “Moppin” Fumoto's brutal roguelike vertical scrolling death trap is here to swallow you down into the caverns of its trippy and chiptune filled grooves. As one of my favorite indie soundtracks of all time, what Downwell delivers on vinyl is altogether nostalgic and completely timeless.
We were fine until you showed up
Eirik Suhrke, also known as Phlogiston, is an independent musician and composer based out of Norway. Best known for his work on Spelunky and Downwell, Eirik’s emergence into video game music was somewhat of a slow burn with various credits on chiptune compilations and small independent TIGSource projects like Warlock Bentspine. Super Crate Box was one of my first exposures to Eirik’s music and from that moment I was hooked to his incredible chiptune sound and unique arrangement style that brought so much character to an otherwise saturated yet thriving market of sounds. In 2012 Spelunky emerged from the depths of its long-term development cycle and landed on Xbox Live Arcade to become a smash hit. This game's revitalization on console became the catalyst that drove Eirik’s music into the mainstream. Downwell is without a doubt some of Eirik’s best work to date and is one of Black Screen Records best albums ever produced.
Mochi yasan
Cascading bits and driving bass vibrate from out to the depths as you drop your needle into the grooves of this bright red album — Uroboros is seriously a fantastic intro to this album and sets the tone for what you can expect from the rest of this tumultuous sonic freefall. Sundered deep beneath the high pitched trip-hop beats and trills of this record is a dynamic and moody choreography of melodic notes that drags you deeper within the discordant gravity well of Eirik's onslaught of nostalgia. Taking you on a dystopian degradation of sounds, Eirik crushes all the bits and tones into this cluster of melodies that explode with so much energy. The tonal shifts that this album takes you on is definitely the highlight of Eirik’s compositions on this soundtrack. The trepid melodic timbre that periodically comes in waves as this album spins, provides a much-needed pause from the breakneck synth and bit crushing cascade that washes over you with each revolution. A fuzzy analog hiss showers the background of the quiet sections of this album as Eirik’s playful chords strike from the darkness in a mysterious Disasterpeace style that reminds me so much of FEZ! This album is truly a gauntlet through Eirik’s own evolution of sound and is truly one of my favorite indie game soundtracks of all time!
Tomato funk
Downwell was the first album I ever picked up from Black Screen Records and it totally got me hooked to the magic that this German-based label was providing to the industry. The gorgeous red vinyl was absolutely the perfect color to have for this release, and goes with the overall aesthetic of this game, not to mention it sounds incredible! This album is among Black Screen Records’ best pressings to date, in my opinion, and that has a lot to do with their resident mastering engineer Christian Bethge of RAMA Tonstudio. What Christian has helped Black Screen Records achieve with their albums has been incredible, to say the least, and his work on Downwell is masterful. There is little to no surface noise at all here, and the noise floor is perfect in giving this album all the dynamic range it needs to breathe new life into Eirik’s compositions. The cover of this release was a little iffy to me from the product shots on the site before I picked it up, but after having it in hand... I really began to fall in love with the charm and style that Mushbuh brought to their interpretation of Downwell. The highly stylized claymation-esque artwork is never something I would have associated with Downwell, but it makes for one of the more unique album artworks in my collection and is absolutely charming to anyone I show it to. As an added bonus, initial pre-orders were given a fun little art print depicting levels, monsters, and items from the game that brought even more charm to this quality release. The added Bandcamp code was a cherry on top of the already impeccable unboxing experience and is one of my favorite aspects of Black Screen’s product presentation. Downwell is certainly a must-have album for fans of Eirik’s work and an album that should definitely not be missed!
Album Details
Music by:
Remastered for vinyl by:
Artwork by:
Vinyl produced & distributed by:
Where to buy?
Unfortunately, this album has recently sold out from Black Screen Records. Originally released in 2016 I can’t say I’m surprised to see it out of stock. If you look around the web you can still find copies from various third-party sellers and outlets including Discogs. I also saw a few floating around on Amazon recently. If you have the chance to nab this album, I highly recommend you do so. As one of Black Screen Records best releases to date I highly recommend anyone add this album to their collection. Eirik’s work is absolutely phenomenal here, and the pressing quality is top-notch, to say the least.