Swedish dark droner Jarl continues a preoccupation with hearing disorders, as noted on previous release Hyperacusis, a near-clinical examination of this very acute hearing-sensitivity problem. On today’s item Phonophobia (ZOHARUM 240-2), he seems to be going even further, trying to enter the very mind of a patient who is suffering from such an affliction, and portray – through sound – the troubled psychological state of this poor unfortunate. Three tracks of very harrowing and intense oscillating drone are the result. The music teems with detail and somehow suggests great depth, relentlessly ploughing onwards as if there were no end to the pain; Jarl keeps finding, and mining, these seams of unpleasant mental deposits within the human brain, as surely as if the human head were a mine, and he was operating a psychic drill devised by some mad scientist for whom performing a simple trepanation was not sufficient. You’ll find it well-nigh impossible to sit through all of these lengthy explorations, which slowly grow in intensity over 20-25 minutes apiece of long-form ghastliness. But for full enjoyment of Jarl’s work, I think you must succumb freely to the difficulty of the experience; push yourself to the limits of endurance.
Fellow Swede Moljebka Pvlse is planning an ambitious work that, when completed and laid out end to end, might represent his excursions into an imaginary space, or present a map of such a space…until release of the completed item in 2023, here is one episode from Borrowed Scenery, called Appearance (ZOHARUM 244-2), some 20:42 minutes of these “abstract environments” which he has created entirely in his home studio. The press note abounds with metaphors borrowed from map-making, geography, and topography, and even the cover art gets in on the act, with its overlapping grids of two types of painted scenery, superimposed with rulers neatly marked off in millimetres. Guest player Isabel Fogelklou contributes ocean drums, ocean harp, and singing bowls, but most of the work is carried by Mathias Josefson, patiently layering his field recordings and electronic drones. We’re given hints that this internalised “pilgrimage”, or personal musical odyssey, is Josefson’s individual response to the pandemic; the situation seems to have pushed him further into himself, and despite all the intentions to transport the listener to an imaginary “other” place, one can’t help feeling that this rather ordinary drone music simply depicts his own interior landscape. I found it static and unsatisfying, as if his thoughts were stuck in a loop, while he brooded endlessly about being shut indoors. Oversize card wallet includes two postcards.
I feel sated with an abundance of Vidna Obmana reissues from this label. The latest is The River Of Appearance (ZOHARUM 239-2), a work which originally came out on the American Projekt label in 1996, and has now been remixed by creator Dirk Serries in 2021; if you buy the limited edition in a wooden box, you also get a cassette tape of out-takes, photographic prints, and sundry extra items, indicating there’s still an avid collector’s market for the works of this prolific fellow from Belgium. Numerous acoustic instruments fed into its making, including shells, pots, maracas, bamboo flutes, and an ocarina, but the electronics and loops are the basic blocks which continue to dominate the rich highly-polished sound of each track. Obmana’s music moves at a very serene pace, likened here to the “rhythm of breathing”, and the label regards the album as an important and seminal statement within the Ambient genre. I’ll happily take the slow pace, but on today’s spin, I’m finding myself distracted by the over-nice melodic surface and user-friendly chords; although these elements are done in a minimal way, they’re still somewhat cloying; I have the odd impression of seeing a very romantic painting, daubed in bright pastel colours, slowly melting in the sun.
All the above from 7th January 2022.