STRIË
Sléptis
SOUND003
Soundscaping Records 2010
10 Tracks. 56mins26secs

Norman Records: CD

Who exactly is Iden Reinhart, the artist hiding behind Strië, is something of a tightly kept secret. While the Soundscaping website remains pretty vague about the project, we are informed that Reinhart ‘is a retired prodigy actress and cellist’ who appears to live a secluded life somewhere in a rural town in central Europe. This is certainly enough to create more than an element of intrigue around Strië, which is not dispel by the fact that she has recently been seen performing alongside Greg Haines or has contributed to Erik Skodvin’s recent album, Flare, on Sonic Pieces. Sléptis spreads its wings across modern classical, electronic soundscapes, sprinkled with light field recordings and occasionally tinted with eerie processed vocals or dislocated spoken words, and abstract jazz, never quite settling on any particular genre, but never quite intently bringing them together in one unique form of expression either. Continue Reading »

CELER
Pockets Of Wheat
SOUND002
Soundscaping Records 2010
01 Track. 59mins10secs

With the untimely death of multi-instrumentist Danielle Baquet-Long in July 2009, Celer, the duo she and husband Will Long formed in 2006, came to an abrupt end. Yet, in the space of three years, the pair have recorded a considerable amount of music, and beside a number of self-releases, part of their work surfaced on a wide variety of labels, including Spekk, And/OAR, Digitalis, Smallfish and Home Normal, and releases continue to filter out.

One such new release is Pockets Of Wheat, published on Burgeoning Norwegian imprint Soundscaping, following on from last year’s excellent Air Resort by Christophe Bailleau. Continue Reading »

CHRISTOPHE BAILLEAU
Air Resort
SOUND001
Soundscaping Records 2008
07 Tracks. 52mins59secs

Having been a member of various rock formations in the nineties, French-born, Belgium-based multimedia artist Christophe Bailleau began releasing music under his own name in 2003, and has since, collaborated with artists as diverse as Sebastien Roux, Won or Neal Williams. Beside his musical activities, he also directs short films and creates audiovisual installations for a wide range of events and locations.

The inaugural release from Norwegian imprint Soundscaping Records, Air Resort, Bailleau’s fourth solo album, is a beautiful collection of atmospheric music where sounds form in exquisite fluid sequences, each totally self-contained, yet is connected, often in subtle way, to the others, ensuring a consistent mood throughout the seven tracks presented here. Continue Reading »