A new release in the catalog of Portuguese label Crónica. This time music based solely on field-recordings. Marc Behrens used a mixture of recordings to create an interesting listening.
Crónica is known for its diverse catalog with electro-acoustic music, ambient, minimal music, improvised jazz and field-recordings. In their catalog you can find back a clear connection to sound-art and music for installations. With Sleppet, the new release by German composer/sound-artist Marc Behrens it is no different. In 2007 Marc Behrens went on a trip with fellow artists Chris Watson, Jana Winderen, Steve Roden, Natasha Barrett and Bjarne Kvinnsland to the Westlandet region in Norway. With field-recordings made there he created the 4 pieces we hear on his latest release Sleppet.
The four pieces on the release are named after the sources used in the music.
Sleppet (1): Seagulls and Cattle is a the opening track which starts out with seagulls screaming, just a plain recording with nothing added, until the stretching begins. Like sirens the sounds spins around in your head. A background hum from the nearby breaking waves is always there. What the cattle is doing is not clear but at points to make rumblings noises. Due to the sounds from the seagulls this piece is quite haunting. Just as if they could attack you any time. While the clean recordings continue all the time the stretched sounds seem to become longer and longer building up to a climax. Until a point where they are mixed to the back. Here the cattle finally comes out. Sounds from huge farm sheds full of animals walking around so it seems. An intense experience.
Sleppet (2-3): Avalanches, Water and Stones starts out softly with the dripping of water. Slowly the sound gets manipulated into small grains. It pops and plops. Stones begin to roll down hill. This piece stays rather calm compared with the first one. Throughout recording this piece an avalanche of rocks took place. This coincidence is mixed in well with the rest of the sounds, same as the bird twittering in the background. Due to the use of these small details the pieces are very exciting to listen to. There is always something new to discover.
Sleppet (4): Glacier is with recordings from a glacier. It starts out like the creeping and breaking of ice. With dynamic changes the piece streams on with loads of the same sounds. But when you listen carefully a lot of different recordings are added. Softly a stream of water appears increasing in volume. And where we had a rock avalanche in the previous piece, here we are treated with the sound of a collapsing glacier. From the liner-notes we learn this was happening at just a small distance from Behrens. The loud sound sets in for a new part in the piece were we move in the an ice cave where water is dripping from all the places. A very soothing sound to say the least.
Sleppet (5): Sheep and Industry is the closing piece on the album. Here we hear a continuous hum from a hydroelectric power plant. Not only the hum is used, but several other sounds from the working industry is used to create a dynamic piece. The machinery is constantly screeching, peeping and pumping. It is as if you are in the middle of the plant. Behrens plays a lot with dynamics here making it a lively piece of music. The amazing part about this piece is that if you crank up the volume in the quiet parts you can constantly hear the sounds that surround the power plant. Birds twitter, some sheep howl. In the background they are always there, but specially in these quiet moments you get aware of them. Again the details make this such a exciting listen.
Every time when you have heard a field-recordings album you think this is it, this is the end. But now, again, with Sleppet it is a pleasant surprise to hear there how diverse this soundworld can be. Marc Behrens brought a good diverse album with some expected, but mainly unexpected field-recordings. Yet another album from Crónica that shouldn’t go unnoticed. (8,5/10) Sietse van Erve
via Earlabs