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Rating:
Finally, I managed to find the album after already seeing them live.
The cover takes me back to the farthest recesses of memory, evoking the English romantic painters Constable and Turner (I swear!), for the care and skill in the representation of light.
Then I check the booklet and discover that it’s actually a photograph, perhaps of the northern lights?
The album is very beautiful but not new. What does it remind me of? I thought about it for a long time, but the reference is disarmingly obvious: the 808 State from early English ambient around 1989.
For the use of "melodic" melodies they made, while Orbital and The Orb, during the same period, were increasingly pure and minimalist, one with a Kraftwerkian style and the other with dub influences.
Nothing new, then, but where does all the hype, the noise come from? Perhaps because not much is known about them (even after some research, I can't distinguish Svein from Torbjörn), maybe because they’re Norwegians from Tromsø and record in Bergen.
They are exotic.
But also because it's a beautiful album. "Eple" is great with those light and lopsided odd beats that don't resolve (pure and simple 808 State). The reinterpretation lies in the heavier bass and the more extensive use of vocals.
"Sparks" is reminiscent of Moby, with Anneli Drecker singing with reverberated and slightly distorted vocals, with "Play"’s vintage effect, a song with a nice mood.
Then there's "Poor Leno" with vocals by Erlend Øye, which live they sing alone through the vocoder, the most recognizable pop episode of the album, but also more unappealing.
"Remind Me" another pop-structured song, also sung by Erlend Øye, reminiscent of the synth-pop of the English band Beloved.
The rest is early ambient, beautiful, well-crafted with beautiful analog sounds (Roland 808 and 909) intertwined with digital ones, in delicate rhythms.
There's nothing else to say.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 So Easy (04:10)
Blue on blue, heartache on heartache
Blue on blue, now that we are through
- Hello?
- Yeah it's me. I wanna give you some good frequencies. 1710, 2.6, 2245...
- Yeah?
- 3032, 400
- 400?
- Yeah.
- I'm coming right over.
- Do that.
- I'll be there in two seconds.
03 Sparks (05:25)
No matter gay or grim, it's those tiny little sparks
Daily life that makes me forget my wounded heart
It doesn't matter when, it may rain or it may shine
blurred memories of us come back from time to time
(repeat)
No matter gay or grim, it's those tiny little sparks
Daily life that makes me forget my sulky heart
It doesn't matter when, it may rain or it may shine
You will always be here stored inside my mind
Come I'll give you all my love
Suck some air
Tell you what I'm dreaming of
Oh, whoa, oh....
Maybe within a thousand years
You'll be here
Maybe within a thousand tears
Oh, whoa, oh.....
Whoa, whoa....oh, oh
Can I be so alone?
Can I be so alone?
Hmm....
Oh, oh....whoa, oh, oh......
La la la la la la...hmm.....
05 Poor Leno (03:58)
Poor Leno
Where you'll be, I'll go
Where you'll be, I'll know
Where you'll be, I'll find you......
(repeat)
Poor Leno
Where you'll be, I'll go
Where you'll be, I'll know
Where you'll be, I'll find you.....
(repeat)
Poor Leno
Where you'll be, I'll go
Where you'll be, I'll know
Where you'll be, I'll find you
Poor Leno
Have you due in time
Reunite as one
Please, I'll always find you..
Poor Leno
Where you'll be, I'll go
Where you'll be, I'll know
Where you'll be, I'll find you
Poor Leno
Have you due in time
Reunite as one
Please, I'll always find you...
08 Remind Me (03:39)
Itâs only been a week
The rush of being home in rapid fading
The failing to recall
What I was missing all that time in England
Has sent me aimlessly
On foot or by the help of transportation
To knock on windows where
My friend no longer live, I had forgotten
And everywhere I go
Thereâs always something to remind me
Of another place in time
Where love that travelled far had found me
We stayed outside till two
Waiting for the light to come back
We didnât talk I knew
Until you asked what I was thinking
Until you asked what I was thinking
Brave men tell the truth
The wise men tools are analogies and puzzles
A woman holds her tongue
Knowing silence will speak for her
Brave men tell the truth
The wise men tools are analogies and puzzles
A woman holds her tongue
Knowing silence will speak for her
Will speak for her
And everywhere I go
Thereâs always something to remind me
Of another place in time
Where love that travelled far had found me
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Other reviews
By NickGhostDrake
Graceful melodies amidst typically pop structures, then immersed in a bath of sweet, dreamy sampled sounds, wrapping you in allure from the first to the last moment.
Listen to believe in “Eple,” where what seems like an effective refrain reveals itself to be a mesmerizing harmonic loop.
