CD, Einzeleinheit, 2007
www.bek.no/~tibprod/iversen.htm
“Interface music”… It is the emphasis on music released on the German Einzeleinheit label. Let’s try to find out what it means before this release is being reviewed.
The website states that ‘Interface music’ is individual music at the border line of stilistic categories. Basic principles are:
– it is affirmatively-hollistic;
– it must work as a closed entity;
– it has musical entities with their own right of existence;
– it must be aware of the limited attention span of the physiological apparatus of human beings and
– it leaves open the possibility of consumption in one continous session.
It may all sound a bit over-conceptual, but the enclosed writing to the CD “Wiederkehrende Welten” (“Returning Worlds”) by Jan-M. Iversen labels it as “one of the best examples of ‘interface music’ to date”. And yes, it is definitly a good album with lots of variety and still a strong unity in between the tracks. A few tracks can be played seperately as well as it being perfect for an evening alone with a glass of wine and a headphone set. But where does it stand musically?
The first of seven tracks is a sort of glitch with found footage, musique concréte which is a bit more concréte than you would expect at first. The ritual approach in the first track changes into classic induced atmospheres in the second track, which continues with a repetitive sound leading to a state of trance. This trance continues in the third track where ‘watery sounds’ enter the auditive playground and the somewhat classic sounds sound sparkling and fresh… Damn ! This third track only lasts for a little over a minute.
Varied is definitly the word to use. Yet still as a listener you want to know where it all leads to.
You are roughly awoken from the trance by the ritual rhythms in track four, which suddenly change into unexplainable noises from unknown sources. If one had to describe it, it would be ‘an emulsified substance of Black Sun Productions and Merzbow’.
Track five continues with the experiments started in the first 3 tracks. Repetitive rhytms from unknown source leading into a trance- like state of mind. Combined with seemingly old sounding synths. It is like playing TG in the background. And after about 4 minutes the Merzbow-like noise comes back, but only for a minute … What remains is a gorgeous noise/drone/soundscape.
This isn’t easy listening, but it’s definitly very intriguing.
The sixth track is again a beautiful intriguing soundscape with loads of sharp sounds. ‘Wiederkehrende Welten’ closes with a dark drone with ‘bubbling’ sounds and minimal rhythms. The atmosphere in this closing track is simply too creepy to describe …
So this in ‘interface music’ …
Yes, there is a connection between the tracks, and it’s very obviously strongly conceptual as well as auditive. I personally would have preferred the tracks being faded into a whole, because now the interludes are too prominent. But that might interfere with the third basic rule ‘musical entities with their own right of existence’.
An album on which you’ll feast on generating thoughts and new approaches to re-consider what you thought was the truth…
[8/10]
— Bauke van der Wal