wall_of_books, Dec 20, 2005
Very dark, sometimes abstract. Biosphere and Deathprod took turns "transforming" and manipulating fellow Norwegian (and electronic music pioneer) Arne Nordheims original recordings.
The result is satisfying. I think Biospheres influence restrained Deathprod, as there isnt as much of the noise and dissonance associated with their other releases. Its also a landmark Biosphere release because it was the first release after the masterpiece "Substrata" and saw Jenssen turning even further away from his origins in pop electronica and more towards experimental and classically-influenced music.
There is a spare and melancholy northern European aestheticism here, with drones and tones winning out over traditional musical structure. I dont think the artists set out to intentionally make "dark ambient" music, it just kind of turned out that way.
This is music for lonely winter nights, for abandoned warehouses, and rocky arctic coastlines...