Croatian Amor

The solo project of Loke Rahbek, Croatian Amor fuses field recordings with varied electronic styles -- ambient and garage among them -- to create immersive, emotive sonic worlds. The sense of longing in the Copenhagen-based producer's work was immediately apparent on Croatian Amor's early EPs and 2013 debut album The World, and defined the project's style even as Rahbek collaborated with Lust for Youth (of which he was a onetime member) on releases like Pomegranate or worked with Varg on a series of EPs that began with 2017's Body of Water. Croatian Amor's increasingly seamless collages ranged from the tense deconstructions of 2019's Isa to the gentler reflections of 2022's Remember Rainbow Bridge and 2023's A Part of You in Everything but always put feelings first -- something particularly evident on 2025's full-length Lust for Youth collaboration All Worlds. Growing up, Rahbek had his sights set on becoming a painter, though his father's record collection -- which included David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Massive Attack -- also played a large role in his creativity. After souring on art as a career and falling in love with the work of electronic artists like Aphex Twin, Rahbek devoted himself into a variety of musical projects, including the post-hardcore outfit Sexdrome and Vår, a gritty industrial-meets-techno group that also featured Iceage's Elias Rønnenfelt. In 2009, he formed the power electronics duo Damien Dubrovnik with Christian Stadsgaard, with whom he founded the label Posh Isolation. Two years later, Rahbek's friend Hannes Norrvide moved to Copenhagen from Sweden and invited him to join his project Lust for Youth. Lust for Youth's first release as a duo was 2012's dissonant Growing Seeds, which also marked their debut on the U.S. label Sacred Bones. That year, Rahbek began releasing ambient electronic music as Croatian Amor, starting with March's Mercure EP. The Gold Of The Good Sister, an EP with Rose Alliance, followed in October. Rahbek balanced his duties with Lust for Youth and Croatian Amor, and combined them on 2013's collaborative Pomegranate. With Lust for Youth, he released that year's full-length Perfect View, which brought the group's latent synth pop influences to the fore, and released Croatian Amor's debut album The World, which offered some of the project's most fully realized blends of evocative electronics and field recordings. In 2014, Rahbek issued the Croatian Amor albums Genitalia Gardens and Wild Palms as well as the EPs Caviar Glowing and Sister, another team-up with Lust for Youth. With that group -- which added producer Malthe Fischer to the fold -- he released the sweeping, heartbroken, critically acclaimed album International. Two years later, Croatian Amor's album Love Means Taking Action appeared, as well as a remix EP featuring contributions by Brynje, Why Be, Yen Towers, Félicia Atkinson and more. Also in 2016, Lust for Youth released Compassion, a set of songs that took their music in an even more epic direction. Following Compassion's release, Rahbek left Lust for Youth and put more of his energies into Croatian Amor. He leaned into the project's pop undercurrents on 2017's Finding People EP, and began an ongoing collaboration with Sweden's Varg on the following year's ambient-oriented Body of Water. On 2019's full-length Isa, he evoked Arca and Throbbing Gristle with sleek collages featuring vocals from Soho Rezanejad and HTRK’s Jonnine Standish. That year, the rave-inspired Body of Carbon continued Croatian Amor's partnership with Varg. In 2020, the album All in the Same Breath incorporated some of the spirit of Isa and the Varg EPs. Croatian Amor also issued two collaborative short-form releases: Two Autumns with Scandinavian Star (the solo project of Rahbek's former bandmate Fischer) and Body of Lila, another installment in the series of Varg EPs. Rahbek and Varg teamed up again in 2021 for Body of Content, a largely remote collaboration that also included contributions from Vallmo, Exploited Body, Matti Bye, Olimpia, and others. Two more EPs with Scandinavian Star, Reilly/White Stone and Spring Snow, also appeared that year. Rahbek drew inspiration from youth and the journey into adulthood for Croatian Amor's delicate 2022 full-length Remember Rainbow Bridge. He continued in this gentle vein on the following year's ambient-garage fusion A Part of You in Everything. Along with the solo single "Dancer," the Scandinavian Star collaborations Benelux (Who Am I​?​) and Last Thing You were among Croatian Amor's 2023 short-form releases. That June, Croatian Amor and Lust for Youth performed a set at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid Live Festival, sparking a new phase in their creative partnership. Basing their pieces on the Golden Record -- the collection of field recordings and traditional music sent into space on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 -- they sought to capture a slice of what it means to be human with each track. The results were March 2025's All Worlds, which blended Lust for Youth's poignant pop and Croatian Amor's atmospheres with elements of dance music, shoegaze, and hip-hop.
© Heather Phares /TiVo