After ten years of recording as Biopshere, Tromso born
Geir Jenssen has firmly established himself at the forefront
of experimental ambient music. Although his early releases
still bore the marks of dance music, his music has now
evolved towards more atmospheric structures, where beats
are scarce and environmental sounds are essential. Patashnik,
his second album, was already shaping what would become
the Biosphere sound, but it is not until his third opus,
the seminal Substrata,
originally released on All Saints Records in 1997 and
recently reissued by Touch as a double album, that Jenssen
really started exploring the immense possibilities of
ambient music the way Brian Eno did in the eighties
with his Ambient series. He now comes back
after two years of silence with a new album, almost
entirely based on orchestral works by French classical
composer Claude Debussy.
One of the most important French composers of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Claude Debussy
was very often associated with the impressionist movement
and symbolist writers, and his non-conformist tonal structures
still inspire many musicians. Probably better known for
his orchestral works, including Prélude A l'Après-midi
D'Un Faune and La Mer, Debussy was very
influenced by the work of Russian composers such as Borodin
or Mussorgsky, and traces of eastern music can be found
in a few of his compositions. Geir Jenssen experiments
on Shenzhou with similar elements, weaving his
distinctive near-beatless soundscapes around recurring
patterns throughout, superposing them on Debussy’s own
orchestrations. The title track, which opens the album,
slowly introduces the multiple elements of this work,
reverently contrasting them to establish a perfect balance
of impressions. These diverse components are echoed in
turn in each track, placing them in different perspectives.
Jenssen acts as an impressionist painter himself, applying
little touches which, heard individually, do not equal
to them heard in context, contributing to producing sonic
effects and auditory illusions. If Houses On The Hill
or Path Leading To The High Grass confront these
warm soundscapes with isolationist percussions, the remaining
tracks are entirely devoid of rhythmic structures, Jenssen
relying instead on more subtle sound organisations to
create movement.
With this visionary record, Geir Jenssen proves once more
that he is the most talented musician around able to create
such beautiful and intense music out of arid sources.
By associating himself with the musical genius that was
Debussy, not only does he emulate his own work, but also
give a whole new dimension to the work of the French composer.
5/5 |
