SVERRE KNUT JOHANSEN: Antartica (2016)

 

“Full of Erik Wollo's perfumes and rocking between ambient, trabal ambient and fine structures of New Berlin School and Modern New Age, Antartica is something very good to hear”

 

1 Antarctica Theme 4:22

2 United 5:35

3 Ice Ballet 4:26

4 Whales in Paradise 6:39

5 Melting Ice 5:43

6 Adélie Penguins 3:59

7 Penguins on Ice 3:46

8 Solar Halos 4:31

9 Nature of Antarctica 2:51

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Origin Music (CD/DDL 41:52) ****

(Ambient tribal with a mix of New B.S. and Modern New Age)

 

Sverre Knut Johansen ends the year 2016 with an album as good as Earth From Above, released at the beginning of the year. In an atmosphere which feels hardly the ices of Antarctica but where chime chords wrapped of ice, “Antartica” rocks between tribal ambient, ambient and rhythms of the world, otherwise very electronic rock, which are caramelized by a good synth-pop. In spite of this pallet of the styles, Sverre Knut Johansen adores laying down his influences here which we guess easily of Michael Stearns and Erik Wollo, in particular with a very spectral guitar, with a thought for Vangelis and Eddie Jobson. Let’s add to this a production and a gorgeous sonic aestheticism, and we have here another album that we taste with the ears wide open. 

After a more or less fathomless opening, "Antarctica Theme" puts the fans of electronic melodies sculptured in the uncountable possibilities of the synths in appetite. A suite of chords sounding as a duel of acoustic guitar is parading in a spheroidal minimalist pattern or like in a carousel which rises slightly before taking back its circular lineal figure. A line of sequences emerges towards the end, making its arpeggios glitter and oscillate as a shoal of fish which is running away from a predator. The approach reminds me of Michael Stearns. In particular, the M'Ocean album. "United" is a title which seduces straightaway because of its heavy rhythm which is mortgaged by good sequences to which are added the weight of the percussions. The music is alive and the rhythm, as fluid as jerky, is as animated as melodic. The sound effects and the spectral lamentations are at the heart of a solid electronic rock of the England style. It’s very good! These strange melodies which seem to result from a throat of an aquatic animal of the Antarctica obsess the heavy, slow and always finely jerky rhythm of "Ice Ballet" with a double movement of sequencer and with judiciously inserted electronic percussions. If I have a small memory which goes back up, that would be the tone and Eddie Jobson's harmonious rhythms in Theme of Secrets. A must have like one says! "Whales in Paradise" is charmingly melodious. The rhythm, familiarly heavy and slow, swirls lightly even if the structure and the sound envelope can seem heavy. The percussions structure a kind of rhythm of the world with a skillful game of the sequencer which frees its keys like a jet of crossbow. The harmonies, which are very catchy, are whistled by a synth which sings with its shadow. Another very good title and there seem to be more and more, as we listen to “Antartica”. "Melting Ice" does more into an ambient tribal form, while "Adélie Penguins" is literally ambient, with a structure which grows in emotionalism and in intensity. The effects of harmonies on synth/guitar remind me the Scandinavian universe of Erik Wollo. "Penguins on Ice" is also fascinating, otherwise very near in rhythm and in harmonies, as "United". The rhythm dives into the very ethereal and very Vangelis ambiences of "Solar Halos". A wonderful title that will raise your arm's hairs. And "Nature of Antarctica" ends this last Sverre Knut Johansen's opus with an approach ambient New Age music.

I did enjoy this new contact with the music of the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist. “Antartica” possesses a crystalline tone appropriate to the works which depict so much the oceans as its banks of ice and Sverre Knut Johansen transposes it aptly into an electronic environment which can please so much the music lovers of the New Berlin School kind (there is some good filaments of sequences here and there) and of contemporary New Age because of a rhythmic approach as melodious as lively. It does good to the senses and the ears, especially by a beautiful icy Sunday.

Sylvain Lupari (January 6th, 2017)

gutsofdarkness.com & synthsequences.blogspot.ca

You can find this album on CD Baby, Spotify and I-Tunes

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textura

 

Review by Ron Schepper

 

Sverre Knut Johansen: Antarctica

Origin Music

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Presented with Sverre Knut Johansen's Antarctica, one might understandably expect the Norwegian electronic producer's follow-up to 2016's Spotted Peccary release Earth From Above to be ambient soundscaping of a decidedly glacial kind and thus a natural fit for the Glacial Movements label. How surprising, then, it is to discover that while the new collection is both instrumental and rich in synthetic sounds, it has as much in common with electronic pop as soundscaping per se. Not that there's anything objectionable about that: Antarctica, inspired by its landscapes and conceived as a tribute to its animals and sea creatures, provides the listener with an ample amount of listening pleasure and is a fine addition to its creator's CV.

Anything but chilly, “Antarctica Theme” inaugurates the nine-track album with gently soaring melodies and all manner of widescreen electronic atmosphere. Elevated by an uplifting central theme, the piece hints that Johansen's explorations of Earth's southernmost continent will be filled with optimism and uplift. His arrangements are rich in detail, with synthesizer melodies augmented by layers of ambient washes and electronic beats, all such detail generating a panoramic effect that mirrors the grandeur of the continent's landscapes. It's easy to visualize the vastness of the territory, its snow-covered mountains and deep blue skies, as one absorbs the forty-two-minute production.

There are moments on Antarctica, which Johansen created in Norway during the fall of 2016, when the material moves from electronic pop into New Age and even prog zones, and the music's sleek sheen and production polish suggests it could easily function as a soundtrack to a nature documentary or promotional video about Antarctica. An old-school feel to the music surfaces on occasion, too, particularly in those moments when the producer opts for classic analog synthesizers over their digital counterpart. That's nowhere more audible than during the graceful and unexpectedly gentle evocation “Whales in Paradise,” though it's hardly the only time that analog dimension arises. There's also a suite-like quality to the release that gives it the character of a nine-part symphony, an impression strengthened when a particular theme is used as a motif that surfaces within multiple tracks and helps unify the project in the process.

January 2017

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