SKYPHONE: Avellaneda (Rune Grammofon)

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Posted on May 12th 2008 11:45 pm

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Skyphone: Avellaneda

SKYPHONE
Avellaneda
RCD2071
Rune Grammofon 2008
11 Tracks. 52mins53secs

It has taken four years for Danish trio Skyphone to follow Fabula, their rather stunning first album. Formed of childhood friends Mads Bødker, Thomas Holst and Keld Dam Schmidt after years propping up dead end rock bands, the trio began to experiment with electronic music and put down the foundation of Skyphone toward the end of the nineties. In 2004, the band’s debut was released on Rune Grammofon.

Like label mates Alog, Skyphone are primarily concerned with intricately woven sonic structures that rely on myriads of minute pieces, but instead of processing acoustic instruments into dense formations, Holst, Schmidt and Bødker focus on musical purity and dip their compositions in luxurious sound pools to bring up the natural textures of the instruments used, while discreet field recordings sprinkled all over the course of the album give the compositions a truly pastoral feel. 24 free ringtones | sprint pcs ringtones | download ringtones motorola | dash mobile ringtones t | cricket phone ringtones | download free cingular ringtones | ringtones for nokia phone | disney free mobile ringtones | c139 motorola ringtones | sprint download ringtones | free cingular wireless ringtones | free ringtones for sprint phone | free ringtones for verizon phone | mobile ringtones converter | nextel ringtones | free ringtones for nextel phone | free kyocera ringtones | download free ringtones nokia | cell phone ringtones wallpaper | ringtones for nextel phone |

Already, Fabula revealed some pretty stunning evocative landscapes hidden behind its delicate song structures. With Avellaneda, the trio have refined the creative process and developed the Skyphone entity to reach a new level of detailing, while the melodies that are carved into these soundscapes are more refined and dramatic. Throughout Avellaneda, Skyphone apply beautifully simple and effective orchestrations, which, without being in any way as hypnotic, recalls in part the work of another label mate, Svalastag.

The danger with this kind of records is to push the detailing so much that it becomes the sole substantial part of the record, to the detriment of any narrative. This is however not the case here, as Skyphone manage to balance abstraction and impressive forms pretty well. Right from the onset of the airy Cloupanic, the trio assimilate both acoustic instrumentation and electronic effects to create a bucolic set of sounds and arrange them into fragile melodies which erupt from the core of the track one after the other. This is very much the process followed by Skyphone throughout. The band often begin by laying a particular setting before introducing the first melodic pattern then developing a second layer and another. Far from becoming confused, this actually contributes to the depth of the compositions and to their singular tone. Tracks such as River Of Kings, Schweizerhalle or Tweed/Puke’s Dye seem to continuously develop and gain in substance through their respective course.

There are times however when Skyphone stick to just one theme, like on World Station or, to a lesser extant, Quetzal Cubicle for instance, two tracks that appear more minimal and constrained, as if Skyphone were conscious of not over emphasising on rich assemblages of sounds. This is however perhaps an oversight as these tracks appear surprisingly more fragmented and fail to captivate in the same way as the more complex formations.

With this second album, named after the mysterious Spanish author going under the pseudonym of Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, who published a sequel to Cervantes’s Don Quixote in 1614, Skyphone have refined their sound palette and apply it with great control to create beautiful evocative vignettes.

4.1/5

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