For the second time, Geir Jenssen (Biosphere) and Helge Sten (Deathprod) have worked together on an album. The last time they cooperated, the result became a classic in the ambient world, named Nordheim Transformed. Both projects have been working and experimenting with electronic music since the nineties. Biosphere, off course, is well-known for the ambient-techno hit 'Novelty Waves' but he also made some classic albums and soundtracks. Deathprod is known for his (dark) ambient albums and his work with Motorpsycho and Supersilent . So, there's about fourty years of ambient experience on this disk and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Biosphere opens and takes every odd-numbered track on the album while Deathprod takes the even numbers. Both of them mainly focus on minimal ambient where otherworldy sounds come floating in and out over a number of loops. That's a very unpoetic way to describe this album, but regarding the combined experience these projects have, you can be quite sure the endresult is beautiful, relaxing and quite a bit adventurous.
For an ambient album like this, there's plenty of variation. Be it the minimalist percussion in 'Muses-C'(Biosphere), the thundery drones in 'Shimmer Flicker' (Deathprod), the abstract sounds in 'Baud' (Bioshpere) or the floating soundscapes in 'Disc' (Deathprod), every song and every piece of sound has its place and its function. All of these little aspects help making the album complete and extremely enjoyable. My absolute favourite on this album is 'Space Is Fizzy', a calm but rhythmic piece with a slight trance-effect.
However, the other tracks fit in perfectly with each other. At moments, there's a slight noise-level but those quickly fade away into the same ambient wall-of-sound both acts create. All tracks are quietly balancing on the edge, the thin line where this thing we call music fades in and out off the lives we live and the surroundings we experience. That's a more poetic description, finally. None of both projects has been experimenting a lot on this album. Instead, what we get is exactly what we can expect from ambient-deities like these; outstanding and well-produced musical landscapes in the vein of their previous works. Overall, Deathprod takes it a bit noisier, darker and grittier while Biosphere focuses on the lighter, colder side of things. The combination of these two, however, is simply excellent. To some it might be creepy, dark and just plain scary but to ambient, and especially dark ambient and drone fans, this music is soothing and relaxing. It's mainly for these people that this album is highly recommended.
Serge
For an ambient album like this, there's plenty of variation. Be it the minimalist percussion in 'Muses-C'(Biosphere), the thundery drones in 'Shimmer Flicker' (Deathprod), the abstract sounds in 'Baud' (Bioshpere) or the floating soundscapes in 'Disc' (Deathprod), every song and every piece of sound has its place and its function. All of these little aspects help making the album complete and extremely enjoyable. My absolute favourite on this album is 'Space Is Fizzy', a calm but rhythmic piece with a slight trance-effect.
However, the other tracks fit in perfectly with each other. At moments, there's a slight noise-level but those quickly fade away into the same ambient wall-of-sound both acts create. All tracks are quietly balancing on the edge, the thin line where this thing we call music fades in and out off the lives we live and the surroundings we experience. That's a more poetic description, finally. None of both projects has been experimenting a lot on this album. Instead, what we get is exactly what we can expect from ambient-deities like these; outstanding and well-produced musical landscapes in the vein of their previous works. Overall, Deathprod takes it a bit noisier, darker and grittier while Biosphere focuses on the lighter, colder side of things. The combination of these two, however, is simply excellent. To some it might be creepy, dark and just plain scary but to ambient, and especially dark ambient and drone fans, this music is soothing and relaxing. It's mainly for these people that this album is highly recommended.
Serge