Biosphere & Deathprod – Stator

Seventeen years – and quite a lot of releases – after “Nordheim Transformed”, Geir Jenssen and Helge Sten return to the split-album formula to release “Stator“, built on the same principles: each delivering individual tracks (three by Biosphere, and four by Deathprod).

In the history of ambient electronic music both Biosphere and Deathprod have gained legendary status. “Stator” shows why.

Thomas Köner – Tiento de las Nieves – Cloître

Thomas Köner is perhaps the Jules Verne of ambient-electronic soundscapes: his sounds seem to come from the deepest ocean, the centre of the earth, the vastest spaces imaginable. If you know his work, you will often immediately recognise his sound when you hear it – and maybe feel it before you even hear it.

Knowing his back-catalogue, the choice of a piano as the main instrument for his new album is somewhat surprising. Piano notes are clearly fixed in time, as opposed to the stretched sounds Thomas Köner usually applies. It is, in a way, a bit of a “rigid instrument”.

Thomas Koener – Novaya Zemlya


Novaya Zemlya

It starts with a deep trembling sound. It’s not thunder, but it does not exactly sound mechanical or man-made either. It may come from somewhere deep inside the earth…a strange kind of sound to break the vast silence.

With sounds like these, it’s not difficult to imagine you are witnessing the birth of New Land – which is in fact the translation of “Novaya Zemlya” (or Nova Zembla in dutch, known for the famous Willem Barentsz expedition in 1594). 

The name also refers to the archipelago in the north of Russia, extensively used for nuclear testing during the Cold War – which creates an entirely different context for the sounds on this album.

Hildur Gudnadottir – Leyfdu Ljosinu

Hildur Gudnadóttir ‘s latest release on the Touch label features two tracks:  the 4 minute introduction (“Prelude”) and the 35 minute title track: Leyfdu Ljósinu” . 

The track division seems is somewhat artificial, since the “Prelude closing chord seamlessly introduces the start of the main title track. 
This recording is in fact a “live” recording (with no audience present. which means no distractive audience sounds).
It’s “just” Hildur performing over her multi-track recordings – no “post tampering” was applied afterwards.