The name will be familiar to many. It’s Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved. Inspired by trance-inducing ambiance, he formed his own project BardSpec and, to quote the publicity, “combines stirring, hallucinatory synth-sounds with mercurial guitar effects and hypnotic rhythms that navigate illusory landscapes”.

The landscape is not only illusory, but also desolate, I’d suggest. I sense no sign of people, just expanses, voids and deserts. It’s not about pinning it down of course but infusing the aura, which in the case of “Bone” combines gently galloping sounds with a sitar evoking the east. The fusion of sounds is such that images emerge through the mystical obscurity but never dominate. It’s hypnotic and to a point it’s monotonous but patterns develop the mental images that this sound creates. My image was of a dry, sandy lunar landscape. This extended synth-symphony and its drifting, whirling sounds evoke, for me anyway, reflective sadness. The perma-beat indicates life in its way as without it everything would crumble. Electronic sounds solidify, and then come and go, like the flashes of the Northern Lights. The mood changes for “Gamma”, where the pulses and distant sound interference, which for once suggests human involvement, recall magnetic fields and space. The progress is now slower than before. It is always patient. The winds increase and the cosmic aura of sounds magnify in their steady way. The drum becomes more pronounced. Compared to the spatial world of “Gamma”, “Salt” is more industrial. The swirling winds remain. The monotonous beat continues remorselessly. It can be like waiting for something to happen. I cannot claim this work makes for exhilarating listening but it undoubtedly has a drifting atmosphere.

The repetition that is inherent in this work has the effect of being becalming. We are introduced to a imagined distant land of sweeping sound waves, but once in it, I found myself appreciating but not wholly inspired by the soundscape as Ivar once had been when listening to Richard Burmer’s 1984 album of electronic vignettes “Mosaic”.

(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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