Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen has spent the last fifteen
years redefining the boundaries of electronic-based
ambient music. Although his early solo work as Bleep
was largely club orientated, his first output as Biosphere,
the 1993 album Microgravity gave the first
signs of Jenssen’s future musical direction. Since,
his work has taken many shapes, from records and installations,
often involving landscapes, to live performances. Since
his 1997 album Substrata,
Jenssen’s records have increasingly become more
introverted and distant, with last year’s Autour
De La Lune, a project based around the Jules
Verne book of the same name, being by far his most austere
work.
With Dropsonde, Jenssen returns to more hospitable
territories. Abandoning drone-like moods for richer
soundscapes, Jenssen applies jazz-infused beat patterns
and tones over sumptuous loops. The album opens in typical
Biosphere territory, with a dense formation reminiscent
of Substrata
or Polar Sequences,
but, just a minute in, a relentless bip-bop-flavoured
beat kicks this comfortable setting in the balls and
sends the composition spinning in a totally new dimension.
While this combination originally appears rather linear,
soon, scattered over a surprisingly clear melodic line,
incredibly fine sonic details materialise, each one
impacting on the listener’s perception by adding
some relief to the landscape.
Jenssen applies similar principles to four of the five
remaining tracks, yet, he finds a different way to cast
his sounds and shape the mood of a piece with each new
track. Dropsonde is a far cry from the impressionist
touches of Shenzou
or the barren backdrops of Autour
De La Lune. Here, Jenssen embraces rich sonic
formations, engages groove and applies lavish brushes
and textures all the way through. The only composition
to deviate slightly from this template is the wonderfully
smooth Altostratus. Here, Jenssen revives for
a moment the mood of Patashnik by sending out
electronic pulses above a sombre cloud of electronic
soundwaves.
It is no coincidence that this particular album is originally
being released on vinyl. While Jenssen’s various
efforts of the last few years suited the clinical sound
of CDs, Dropsonde gains in depth and texture
with additional crackles and statics, while Jenssen’s
sound palette also contributes to giving this album
a raw organic feel. Adding to the mood is the album
length itself. Clocking at just under forty minutes,
Dropsonde is Biosphere’s briefest record,
yet still allows for vast sonic spaces to develop fully
while remaining entirely consistent, making it Jenssen’s
most accomplished record to date.
4.8/5 |
