PJUSK
Tele
GM013
Glacial Movements 2012
09 Tracks. 50mins50secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

After two releases for 12K, Norwegian ambient duo Pjusk have moved to Italian isolationist imprint Glacial Movements for their latest sonic excursion. Steered by Rune Sagevik and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik, both hailing from a small village on the West coast of Norway, Pjusk find the inspiration for their work in the long and harsh Nordic winters and in the nature that surrounds them. The pair are said to work in isolation, using a cabin high up in the mountains to record, a far cry from their earlier incarnation as techno artists. The pair met in the early nineties and have been involved with a number of projects since, together or separately, with releases on labels such as Beatservice or Origo Sound amongst others.

Pjusk’s fascination for the vast landscapes and wild nature of their native country often transpires through their work by the use of field recordings, although it never represents the bulk of their compositions by any means. The pair create slow progressive soundscapes and loops which spread over each of the album’s nine compositions. The sound structures assembled by Sagevik and Gjelsvik teem with minutes details and events, a world away from the desperately bleak isolationist atmospheres that have become synonymous with Glacial Movements’s outputs. The opening sequence of Fnugg for instance is filled with miniature environmental noises, which could as easily be a recording of someone trying to get a small device to work as amplified thawing ice. These eventually get covered over by stark drone-like forms as the concise piece slides into the much more sombre and ominous sound world of Gneis, but while the mood remains arid and desolate for the duration, glimmers of milky light progressively creep in as the drones become less oppressive. Below the surface, there are hints of activity which, while remaining diffuse and distant, pierce through the dense soundscape enough to reveal their presence.

Toward the end of Flint, a shimmer of electronics denotes a slight change of tone as a throbbing bass, a relic of the pair’s techno past perhaps, sets Skifer, and the rest of this album, on a different course. Although Sagevik and Gjelsvik retain some elements of the early pieces, they now work a series of slow loops around warm synths soundwaves. Krystall and Granitt which follow are further signs that the pair are progressively moving towards more hospitable grounds as they introduce more prominent rhythmic components and widen their soundscapes somewhat drastically. If the last three pieces, Kram, Bre and Polar return to more stripped down structures, the outlook is pretty different at this point of the record. Unlike the oppressive nature of the opening pieces, there is here a feeling of serenity which renders these last moments in a series of pastoral hues, as if, following a severe winter, spring was opening up to a whole new life.

Tele (Norwegian for frozen underground water) is conceived as a sonic journey, with pieces fading into one another to create a seamless flow from start to finish. It is impossible not to think of Biosphere’s seminal Substrata when listening to this album, but this in no way devalues Pjusk’s work. While there are some obvious similitudes, the pair’s music relies less on field recordings and more on how they assemble their electronic sounds and textures to evoke the Norwegian landscape and weather.

3.9/5

Pjusk | Glacial Movements
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD