Biosphere - Dropsonde

A new 6 track vinyl LP [total length 37:52] from Biosphere [CD to follow in January 2006] is now available from the TouchShop

Biosphere
Dropsonde
Touch # TO:66LP
LP vinyl format [CD to follow Autumn 2005]
Artwork & Photography by Jon Wozencroft and Geir Jenssen

6 tracks - 37:52

Track Listing:

Side 1

Birds fly by flapping their wings 6:24
Fall in, fall out 7:13
Daphnis 26 6:44

Side 2

Altostratus 5:11
Sherbrooke 5:41
In the shape of a flute 6:17

Biosphere is Norwegian composer and performer Geir Jenssen... You may recognise his work without knowing it, so frequently does it crop up on TV trailers and idents. In the early 1990s he was a pioneer of so-called 'Ambient Techno', but since then, he has refined his sound into something more magnetic and enduring.

Dropsonde' isn't a soundtrack like the interwoven 'Substrata' nor an episodic journey in the way that 'Autour de la Lune' is. Here Geir Jenssen is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread.

The spatial aspects some have dubbed "Arctic sound" but it summons strong feelings, or as Exclaim from Canada put it, "in order to climb higher, you must first go deeper". Jon Savage adds: "As with all of the Biosphere albums, the music draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music, where spectacular beauty hides unseen danger. Intense and moving, but comforting and soothing at the same time."

[A 'dropsonde' is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the dropping airplane by radio. The fall may be slowed by a parachute. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.]

This is Biosphere's 5th release for Touch, after "Cirque" [Touch # TO:46, 2000], "Substrata 2" [Touch # TO:50, 2002], "Shenzhou" [Touch # TO:55], and "Autour de la Lune" [Touch # TO:62, 2004]. He has also contributed to various Touch compilations, including "Spire - Organ Music, Past, Present & Future" [Touch # Tone 20, 2004), and more recently to the Storr walk on Skye, Scotland, a guided tour through stunning landscape accompanied by illuminations and sound recordings.

Reviews of these releases can be found here - http://www.touch33.net/archives/reviews_biosphere/
A full biography can be found here - http://www.biosphere.no/biography.html



« back


News archives

» June 2016
» May 2016
» April 2016
» March 2016
» February 2016
» January 2016
» December 2015
» November 2015
» October 2015
» September 2015
» August 2015
» July 2015
» June 2015
» May 2015
» April 2015
» March 2015
» February 2015
» January 2015
» December 2014
» November 2014
» October 2014
» September 2014
» August 2014
» July 2014
» June 2014
» May 2014
» April 2014
» March 2014
» February 2014
» January 2014
» December 2013
» November 2013
» October 2013
» September 2013
» August 2013
» July 2013
» June 2013
» May 2013
» April 2013
» March 2013
» February 2013
» January 2013
» December 2012
» November 2012
» October 2012
» September 2012
» August 2012
» July 2012