The music here thistles a composed and crafted ambience, eagerly pulling at its constraints. A flush of triggering sensibilities that are masterfully dark. Weaving energies tied to the spherical-shaped symphonics of the next track, "Mono No Aware". Sonics that seem to bounce off the stern-faced circles of samurai on the cover, spilling over in semaphore pulses and torn keystrokes.
Daily archives: 19/01/2024
4 posts
The idea of swashbuckling Norwegians taking their belongings and, along with so many other nationalities, trying their luck in the land of the free, is what this album is about. What it does best is to pair a modern update of Norwegian folk music with mythic acoustic Americana; layering pedal steel with Hardanger fiddle and harmonium with guitar, finding a common ground as the incomers gradually settle.
...the composer had been working on a virtual reality experience with MR pioneers Tin Drum (a name maybe taken from an album by Japan?) which premiered in both Manchester and New York and had stunning reviews. Now it has a month long residency at the Roundhouse in London to what appears to be sell out performances (the one I attended was certainly sold out with people trying to get tickets).
Keith Jafrate, nominal head and writer of the endless serpent that is Uroboro, gathered together this exploratory quintet to give flesh to various ideas and coincidentally to act as guinea pig for a newly converted studio the Old Post Office in Todmorden run by some friends. There was a piano already in place and an eight-second reverb which Laura Cole pronounced usable, and off the group went for an initial live run out.