ERIK K. SKODVIN
Flare
SONICPIECES009
Sonic Pieces 2010
10 Tracks. 36mims02secs

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Graphic designer, head of the highly respected Miasmah Records, sound artist and musician with many projects under his belt; Erik Skodvin’s days must surely be pretty busy. Momentarily stepping away from his Svarte Greiner alter-ego, his latest album, Flare, is published on the excellent Berlin-based imprint Sonic Pieces in a run of just 450 handmade copies.

Very much like with his work as Svarte Greiner or as one half of Deaf Center, the Norwegian artists creates here a particularly striking soundtrack, each sonic vignette the catalyst for infinitely nuanced and detailed soundscapes, but here, the dark and dense electronic textures that have been key to his work until now have gone entirely. Instead, Skodvin works with acoustic guitars, pianos, violins and bass, using each sound in its raw, naked form. But this is only part of what makes up the fabric of this record. Alongside fragments of melodies and more sustained musical cycles, Skodvin layers a wide array of environmental noises; a hand brushing against the wooden body of a guitar, the friction of a bow on strings, the echo of distant voices or the almost imperceptible thud of mallets on piano strings for instance. This creates an intimate relationship between the listener and the instruments, bringing them into focus as concrete physical entities rather than simple vehicles for sound. Another major component of the music used here is space. Skodvin exposes reverbs and echoes and builds them into the fabric of his compositions to give them greater contrast. This occasionally takes off some of the sharpness, but it adds in return grain and patina to the whole work, making it all the more real and vivid.

All the way through, Skodvin is economical not only with instrumentation, but also with the notes played. On Etching An Entrance, shimmers of guitars, strings scraping and delicate piano motifs curdle into a fragmented whole, while on Matiné, the plaintive calls of a violin resonate in the distance, partly concealed by the sombre tones of a strummed guitar. Things become much more austere later on as a fragmented melody leaves Failing Eyes lost and confused, or a series of dissonances threaten the fragile balance of Escaping The Day. Pitch Dark is at first equally severe, but a female voice softens its sharp angles and reveals instead its deeply meditative nature. At times, the context appears slightly richer and more ambitious, as is the case on Neither Dust, Graves or Caught In Flickering Lights, but even here, Skodvin remains extremely parsimonious with his performance.

Flare is a more minimal and intimate piece of work than anything Erik Skodvin has released until now, but it is fundamentally driven by the same dynamics and aesthetic. The tone, while undeniably sombre and introspective, is actually very different to that of his previous records, his use of acoustic instruments giving the record a warmth until now totally alien to his work.

4.5/5

Erik K. Skodvin (MySpace) | Sonic Pieces
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