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Its been a while, I think, since I last heard music by Marc Behrens. Perhaps he is not as active anymore when it comes to releasing records? And perhaps more doing commissioned works by, say, German radio? Like this one, which was made for Deutschlandradio Kultur. Unless I am mistaken, I think I heard him play this material in a concert somewhere in 2007, and with his witty introduction by him about he just could escape some heavy block of snow falling. This work was recorded in Norway, in early spring time, when snow disappears and birds return. Both are heavily present in this piece. Seeing this coming in what seems to be the harshest winter in The Netherlands in several years, the sound of snow is now a familiar one. Just today I also noticed birds are still present here and not all escape to warmer parts of the world (maybe that’s a climate change thing I guess). This is a pretty strong piece. Water drops, birds, snow sounds but also motorized sounds of a powerplant and a ferry, along rumble of a kind I don’t recognize. Things move from quite soft to pretty loud, all in a great balance. An electro-acoustic work in great form. Untreated sounds along with short looped bits and computerized processing of the original sounds. A fascinating journey throughout: warm music as it happens for cold days. (FdW)

via Vital Weekly