‘It always seems to come back to a question of
structure’. This line, taken from 6:15
on Reference Frequencies, seems to sum up the
work of Helge Sten as Deathprod. As complex or abstract
as his music can be, it usually starts with a sample,
the basic structure for a track, something that he can
work on, transform, alter in some way, help develop.
Structure is, in some ways, the common point that links
his work together throughout the years. Whatever the
context, Sten appears to always follow the same process,
and this boxset finally reveals how is work has evolved
while retaining the same characteristics.
From his contribution to rock band Motorpshycho in the
mid nineties, to his involvement with avant-garde jazz
formation Supersilent
via his production work for artists such as Arve
Henriksen, Food or,
more recently, Susanna &
The Magical Orchestra, Sten has propagated his audio
virus over multiple sonic territories and largely contributed
to the expansion of the Norwegian experimental scene.
Despite his ubiquitous presence, his solo work remains
largely unheard. Taking the opportunity of Deathprod’s
first solo album in eight years, Rune Grammofon, a label
he has been intricately linked to since it published
the monumental first Supersilent
album, the label’s first ever release, have collected
Sten’s first two albums, Treetop Drive
and Imaginary Songs From Tristan Da Cunha,
plus his new album and a fourth CD containing previously
unreleased or extremely rare tracks, into a sumptuous
boxset, designed by Kim Hiorthøy. Hiorthøy’s
sober black on black design reflects the austere nature
of Sten’s work while also underlining its density.
While Treetop Drive and Imaginary Songs
From Tristan Da Cunha were previously released,
on Metal Art Disco in 1994 and Dbut two years later
respectively, the tracks featured on the first CD, Reference
Frequencies, are, in most part, unreleased. The
four Reference Frequencies tracks are part
of a series of nine improvisations recorded to cassette
in 1991 using basic electronic equipment. Although the
versions included here were reworked to soften and improve
their definition, these four tracks provide a precious
insight into Sten’s early work and reveal how
he had, then, already largely defined his own sonic
landscape. Intertwined with these are two 1995 pieces
by the Jürg Mager Trio, with Deathprod and Snah,
aka Motorpsycho guitarist Hans Magnus Ryan, on Hammond
organ and Bent Sæther on drums and percussions.
Originally released as a seven inch single on Subtopia,
these two recordings appear lighter and more playful.
Dora 3, which closes this album, and 6:15,
recorded in 1997 and 2001 respectively, showcase Deathprod’s
typical approach to sound as a mood-altering component.
While Dora 3 was recorded with violinist Ole
Henrik Moe, which whom Sten has regularly collaborated
since, 6:15 is a slightly disturbing collaboration
with American poet Matt Burt. Burt, who now lives in
Trondheim, is heard reciting a disjointed text that
appears to have no clear meaning or connections, while
Sten slowly introduces tape distortions in the background.
Although spanning some ten years, this first album gives
an interesting view on the evolution of the Deathprod
sound.
Treetop Drive is articulated around three parts
and has a strangely pastoral feel. Featuring once again
contributions from Ryan, this time on violin, and Burt,
this album opens with the haunting first part of the
trilogy. Ryan hangs disturbingly human screams, treated
violin shrieks and howls, around the repeatedly ebbing
wave of a monolithic orchestral recording for the track’s
full fifteen minutes. Part two is even more unsettling.
The violin screeches become harsher, rougher, and completely
dehumanised, and take the pair’s sound to the
confine of industrial music, while part three offers
a warmer, more inviting setting as waves of foggy noises
come crashing on a slightly saturated sound beach. Matt
Burt injects an element of perversion by using a pirate
recording of a talk on death captured on radio, threatening
for a moment the fragile balance of the piece. The album
concludes with the epic eighteen-minute Towboat,
on which Sten improvises around Ryan’s treated
violin sounds, crafting a beautifully detached organic
moment, which appears to develop in a multitude of concurrent
ways, catching the listener off-garde at more than one
occasion.
Like its predecessor, Imaginary Songs From Tristan
Da Cunha had a very limited release (500 copies),
and has long been unavailable. Originally Helge Sten’s
graduation art project, this album has for main source
of inspiration the remotest inhabited island in the
world, Tristan Da Cunha, situated in the South Atlantic
nearly 3000 kms from the nearest mainland. Ideally suited,
Sten’s music appears more isolated and bare than
on earlier releases. The album is articulated around
five tracks, the four first ones are collaborations
between Deathprod and Ole Henrik Moe, while the last
track, The Conceptive Briefcase II, is an epic
thirty minute long collaboration between Sten on Theremin
and audio virus, and a ‘voice and glass’
quintet. If Burntwood, Stony Beach,
Hotentott Gulch and Noatharbour Bay
all revolve around austere processed found sounds, violin
noises and statics and only last between two and two
and a half minutes, The Conceptive Briefcase is a truly
monumental and fascinating piece of work. Here, Sten
explores far more than noises and silences. The fascinating
vocal and noise sections are intricately woven into
each other, drifting in and out of the sonic spectrum
in turn to create a superbly minimal and inspired moment,
reminiscent of Arvo Pärt’s most serene work.
Beautiful, dense and emotional, Imaginary Songs
From Tristan Da Cunha is certainly Deathprod’s
most ambitious and complex record to date, demonstrating
that, despite his young age, Helge Sten already had
an incredibly clear vision of which direction to head
to and the determination to establish his sound.
His first solo album since 1996’s Imaginary
Songs…, Morals & Dogma returns
to the bare soundscapes of Treetop Drive while
incorporating some remote elements of Sten’s work
within Supersilent.
Although this album is entirely made up of previously
unreleased material, Dead People’s Things
and Orgone Donor were recorded in 1994 and
1996 respectively, while Tron and Cloudchamber
were originally recorded in 2000 for Vaakum,
a dance performance by Norwegian dance company Kreutzer
Kompani. Once again based on and around contributions
from Hans Magnus Ryan (violin, harmonium) and Ole Henrik
Moe (violin, saw), these four tracks represent the more
introverted and subtle side of Sten’s work. Tron
and Cloudchamber offer some dark, almost isolationist,
magma-like sound masses that appear to slowly progress
through various terrains, covering up everything on
their way. Of the two, Cloudchamber is the
most threatening. A constant infrabass rumbles around
pulverised found sounds, creating a desolate and unsettling
setting on which Moe attempts to find his way back to
more hospitable territories. Orgone Donor contrasts
by its intriguing simplicity. Originally recorded as
a solo harmonium piece by Ryan, it was later on revisited,
and new layers of strident violins were added. Although
Deathprod is not actually credited at all for this track,
his touch is still perceptible, if only in the contextualisation
of sounds. But the piece de resistance on this album
is to be found on the stunning eighteen-and-a-half-minute
long Dead People’s Things. A superbly
choreographed duel between Sten’s audio virus
and test oscillator and Ryan’s astonishingly humanised
violin, Dead People’s Things rips emotions
from the heart of the instruments to feed this dense
cinematic composition.
The release of Morals & Dogma alone is
unequivocally one of the major events of the year. Despite
having his name attached to many projects, Helge Sten’s
solo work remains truly at the centre of his wider body
of work and appears to define the basis for the rest
of his contributions. The boxset helps getting a understanding
of the importance of his music and of his influence
on the contemporary Scandinavian music scene, and provides
a truly unique opportunity to contemplate the progression
of one of the most talented sound artists of his generation.
5/5 |
