Norwegian trio Splashgirl has been recording with Randall Dunn and although he is renowned for producing acts of the doomier variety, he saw something in both Splashgirl and Robert Aiki Audrey Lowe which he thought was worthy of collaborative investigation.
Having set up a time to convene, Covid restrictions kicked in and this album became a game of two halves, with ideas and basic tracks batted both ways across the ocean. To make it more interactive, both parties recorded over the same period of time and it was taken in turns who would lay down the initial ideas and who would then react to those. The album was intended as a commentary on the increasing role AI plays in entertainment and ironically, the enforced separation has played into humanity’s hands.
It says something about the production and the abilities of the players that you would assume it had all been produced in one place, such is the interaction between the Norwegian trio and Robert. They evoke a soundtrack atmosphere which is truly enhanced by the interactive percussion of Andreas Lommo Knudsrød which moves at its own pace, but is always moving. It is perhaps the most human element of a set of pieces that shine a positive, partly melancholic, light on the beauty of the quotidian. Robert’s voice is an extraordinary thing, unique in its quavering sublimity. It strikes from the soul in their rendering of Talk Talk‘s “Taphead”, with the piano and drums giving it a tender setting that feels like an early morning realisation; but it is a light filled cover, bringing the purity of the original out of the shadows. It shows how open to interpretation Mark Hollis‘s songs were, because this is a great version that sits perfectly with the frozen moments captured in the other tracks.Their vision of sunlit purity runs through the six pieces on More Human; particles drift and are interspersed with reminders of the day to day. They tend to move slowly, particularly on the twelve-minute “Landfiller”, so all details are highlighted; dust motes of piano, electronic whispers and shuffles. It would be the perfect soundtrack to a film where humanity has all but disappeared; not due to the rise of machines, but more the overreaching of humans, the constant flow of drums acting as a continual reminder of resistance.
You can see how “Laughing Stock” appealed to them, but it is lovely to see how they took that sense of questing adventure and went their own way, helped particularly by the genre-fluid voice sounding both ancient and modern yet always soulful and heartfelt. There is a genuineness and warmth to everything here, even when structure is lost a little as on the closer “Enthropist”. Adventure and intrigue leave their marks, and Jo Berger Myhr‘s bass is particularly inviting as electronics scuttle around, scattering texture amongst the brooding notes. It is an interesting and satisfying album, but I couldn’t help asking myself, “could I tell if this was all AI?” I would like to think I could and the humanity of the drumming would be hard to replicate, plus the fact that the bones of the songs were dreamed up by one member and then embellished by the others which renders a snapshot in time, impossible to replicate. Or is it?Either way this is an inspired collaboration, supremely enjoyable and just part of what will no doubt be an ongoing debate.
-Mr Olivetti-
