This collection of soundscapes comes from the prominent group of Norwegian musicians who are around long time and,despite of sometimes still young age, they already made their names worldwide. Musicians like Sidsel Endresen, Eivind Aarset, Arve Henriksen, Stian Westerhus and many others, including recently reviewed Erland Dahlen.
All of them are very strong personalities with immediately recognizable style and voice. Like A. Henriksen for example. Due to his trumpet, the mood present on tracks like the Unrest and the Remain are both full of melancholy and the restlessly touching.
An opening Surge is like a playing beads sounds merging into some hollow spaces and weaved with the disturbing sounds coming from Aarset’s guitar. He is one of these musicians who is capable of completely integrate himself with a co-created sonic tissue to the degree that listener almost forgets that he is the main architect there.
Two other incredibly imaginative pieces are those containing vocals from Sidsel and Erik together. Titled respectively Abandoned House and Apparition This kind of sensual conversation stays on the edge of the talking, singing and whispering, blended with a music which is in the same time very dramatic and illustrative to the subject. Something that singers like Lisa Gerald or Jenifer Charles mastered too.
Another example here can be Blinded Windows. This is Sidsel’s show off. She sings here with this characteristic dissonant vibrato she was using some 15 years back collaborating with Bugge Wesseltoft on their Jazzland,s recordings. Sense of ambience which is present there and the feeling of isolation she is able to create are simply sensational. One can be sunk in there completely. I am still listening to these recordings quite often as they do have something hypnotic in them and addictive in the same time.
Creative communication which is happening here possesses certain amount of improvisation too and this is up to the artists mood and feeling what shape the conversation finally is going to have. Honoré’s previous collaboration with Jan Bang, particularly Woodlands, are audible here and really giving a shape to this mix. Same can be said about all the other artists present here as they are long time collaborators and kind of knowing each other’s soul do really sculpture it. But the spirit of those who are not here on that session, like mentioned already Wesseltoft, or Nils Petter Molvaer can be heard too.
Those who are familiar with the names above and the music they do make, or like artists like Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Laurie Anderson will fall in love with this music. If early Arve Henriksen or Christaian Wallumrod or Iain Ballamy’s FOOD collaboration with Thomas Strønen floats your boat, then you are on the right ship.
Sit, relax and enjoy the cruise.