Forma

Brooklyn-based trio Forma produce gently undulating analog electronic compositions that echo Krautrock, minimalism, new age, and ambient techno. The group first appeared via Spectrum Spools with a self-titled debut in 2011 before shifting to Kranky for the 2016 album Physicalist, at which time acoustic instruments entered their palette.

Mark Dwinell, Sophie Lam, and George Bennett—who manages the electronic percussion—established the project in 2010 and rapidly accumulated extensive improvised material. Selected recordings from those sessions surfaced on SoundCloud, generating immediate attention within the underground synthesizer community, prompting Spectrum Spools, the Editions Mego sub-label overseen by John Elliott of Emeralds, to issue the self-titled debut in 2011. The label followed with the somewhat darker and more concentrated sophomore effort Off/On in 2012; after its release Lam departed and John Also Bennett of Seabat joined.

With 2014’s Cool Haptics the trio pursued a stronger dancefloor emphasis, issuing two fifteen-minute pieces of lush ambient techno through the imprint tied to the long-running Bunker New York club night. Two years afterward Forma joined Kranky and delivered their third album Physicalist, their initial outing to incorporate acoustic instruments, a direction they extended on 2018’s Semblance.