"An arbitrary succession of more or less irritating sounds"

Monday 15 November 2010

Knives out



Talking of Simon Scott, his Miasmah label boss (& collaborator?) Erik Skodvin has two typically intense, rewarding new releases out in his own name (for the first time) & as the more familiar Svarte Greiner. Stream a pair of beautiful, stately, piano-led pieces from Flares (Sonic Pieces) & a preview of this majestic, stark album, plus the vast, brooding Road - one of three SG tracks from a vinyl-only
split with Le Corbeau (Fysisk Format) - below.


Discogs.

Previous coverage (also here &, even more marginally, here).






"CD, ltd edition of 450 copies in book-style packaging....'Flare' marks a new beginning for Skodvin, and the electronic processes that have come to define his sound are now all but gone. Untreated acoustic sounds and the blankly terrifying sounds of bare rooms form the backbone of this new approach, and while 'Flare' still bears all the fingerprints of Skodvin's patented technique, it also sounds fresh and different. At times, as the album slowly reveals itself, one could be forgiven for thinking they had discovered a chewed up cassette of Finnish forest folk- dark and grainy but also live, as if a dark ritual had been captured somewhere remote in the morning fog. Through his selection of instruments, which includes piano, guitar, violin and occasionally voice, Skodvin runs through the recordings with a ghost-like touch. There is the sense that these vignettes already existed, Skodvin merely dusted them off and lit the blue touchpaper.

'Flare' might not have the noise, grit and dense distortion of its predecessors, but what it lacks in bone shaking volume, it makes up for in subtlety and sheer mood. Through careful use of instruments and Skodvin's unmistakable ear for silence, he has created a record as tense and unforgiving as anything in his catalogue. It just sounds a little different, and that is never a bad thing. Listen with caution…"




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