After 2019’s Dark Star Safari, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang once again find themselves back in the studio and still pushing the boundaries of recognised musical form. Although it doesn’t quite have the subliminal quality of that album, Snow Catches On Her Eyelashes is heading in a different direction, still exploring space and texture, but paring the sounds down to electronics, samples and guitar — although you could be forgiven for assuming there is an arsenal of other instruments at their disposal.
It is kind of pointless trying to guess what is producing which sound, so just allow their collective imagination to gently overwhelm with the spare and submerged atmosphere at play. Electronic dolphins play in shallow waters on opener “Purplebright”, and it swoops and swirls, self-contained underwater. It is deep water and although it is dark, it appears busy, with only little points of light giving indication of the activity below. The muffled heartbeat and muted surf of “Asphalt Lake” is joined by something that could be Nils Petter Molvaer‘s trumpet and is reminiscent of the sounds on David Sylvian‘s Brilliant Trees. There is a deep rhythm and echo here, but it is kept from harm somehow. It feels like an submarine dream world, with sounds intimate and extraordinary with a succession of amorphous images that are wrapped up in gauze by the production.
Hilde Norbakken adds Erik Satie-like seahorse piano to the glorious “Before The Wedding”, and the noises that creak and rattle in the background sound as if somebody is tinkering with the body of the instrument as she plays. It is an elegant and refined piece, edging close to the kind of textures that the trumpet produced, somehow wrapping everything in the same cocoon. ”Two Days In June’ reminds me a little of some of Sigur Rós‘s gentler moments, with its half-light capturing a slow motion pan across frozen landscapes. It is minimal instrumentation for maximum effect, and moves so surreptitiously with each step a decision and the use of texture a revelation. The duo takes on another character in each track, and the whole album is like a slow blossoming. There are subdued sub-ocean drums on “Outer Sphere” with distortion and random deep textures, some just a little too close for comfort. It is like creeping downstairs in the middle of night, not knowing who or what is going to be found in the dark recesses. Audun Erlien‘s extra bass adds some momentum on “The Witness”, but still feels slightly ominous as if Brilliant Trees were shaded somehow, couched in monochrome shadows that weave and flutter.Eivind and Jan are great at juxtaposition of unusual sounds as well. The abstract spaciness of “Inner Sphere” sits strangely with the close-up strum of awkward strings, while there is something tropical about “Serenade”, but far away off the coast, so that the beach is barely visible from the deep, dark swells. The descending motif sounds a little like vibes and sways you in a soporific manner. The movement and ideas are untouchable as you are transported from vista to vista, always vague and out of focus, but somehow penetrating your senses, urging you to use all your senses.
The dissonant textures and abstruse guitar abuse of “Monochrome” are still careful, finding a good tension building that is smothered by the ancient folklore of closer “Night Spell”. Sounding like a cross between Bulgarian Voices and a Theremin, these sounds travel unheard across remote landscapes, the evening breeze laying droplets of moisture on each, weighing them down as they soothe the air through which they pass. Like a keening for something lost and everything has turned its back.-Mr Olivetti-
