Polar Sequences and Birmingham Frequencies
are two parts of a same project. Polar Sequences,
released in 1996, was recorded two years earlier, during
Tromso’s Polar Music Festival. Tromso, hometown of Biosphere’s
Geir Jenssen, is situated 70 degrees north, above the
Arctic Circle, in Norway.
In 1995, the organisers of the festival commissioned Geir
Jenssen and Higher Intelligence Agency’s Bobby Bird, a
series of three concerts, using environmental sounds recorded
in the area. The concerts were given on top of a mountain,
where the audience was brought to in turn by cable car.
The second part of this project was put together by Bird
and Jenssen, using a similar approach, this time set in
Bobby Bird’s native Birmingham. The chosen venue was on
the twelfth floor of the Rotunda, situated in the heart
of the city. The one off event also featured videos and
digital images, as well as a café and one of the
best views over Birmingham.
The music created for the two events is very similar in
form, the two artists creating a slow moving, chilled
soundtrack. But where Polar Sequences feels very
natural, using sounds of snow and melting ice, the only
human interaction being the cable car, Birmingham
Frequencies is definitely more urban. Voices of children
playing in a park or a pelican crossing alarm are amongst
the sounds used as the basis for the creation.
These two records are complementary, and Jenssen and Bird
both bring their own creativity and technology to a very
interesting project. Absolutely unmissable.
Polar Sequences 5/5 / Birmingham Frequencies 5/5
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