Axel Boman doesn't need a new outlet. Studio Barnhus, the label and DJ collective he co-founded in Stockholm, has been a reliable home for his records for over a decade. So when Axel Boman quietly rolled out a second imprint this month, it wasn't because Barnhus stopped working. It's because he wanted a space built around something Barnhus was never designed for: visual art sitting on equal footing with the music.
What is Blurry, and why now?
Blurry launches as a multidisciplinary platform, not just a record label. Swiss art director Laurenz Brunner is shaping its visual identity from the first release, which tells you where Boman's priorities sit: this is a label conceived around a look and a mood as much as a sound. The opening statement is a joint project with Superpitcher, the Cologne producer long affiliated with Kompakt, released under the title "Tell It To The Mountain."
"I've dreamed of having a platform where I can experiment with art and music for a while now, and this album feels like the perfect project to launch it with," Boman said.
How did a glacier hike become an album?
The backstory is the part that separates this from a routine label launch. Boman and Superpitcher spent three days hiking to Sweden's Helags Glacier before making the record, pushing themselves physically and mentally to the point where, by their own account, exhaustion and inspiration became hard to tell apart. That trip shaped the album's ten tracks, including the opening single.
https://axelboman.bandcamp.com/track/true-crime
"True Crime" arrived on August 11 as the first taste of the collaboration, with the full album following on September 25 across digital platforms and 2x12" vinyl.
Who is Superpitcher, and why does this pairing matter?
Superpitcher has spent two decades on Kompakt's roster building a reputation for melodic, slow-burn house that rewards patience. Boman, who has run Barnhus alongside a solo catalogue defined by loose, warm, slightly off-kilter house, called him someone he considers "a master of suspense, melody, repetition and groove." Pairing that instinct with Boman's own has been years in the making, by Boman's account, and a glacier hike apparently supplied the missing push.
