Arve Henriksen - Chiaroscuro download mp3 flac

Supersilent member and trumpet-player Arve Henriksen is behind this album, that starts with "Opening Image", a sorrowful wail of trumpet and voice amidst Ambient symphonic wheezes, while the following "Bird's Eye View" is a moist tribal meditation. "Chiaro" is even more aquatic and ethereal, a desolate liturgy that is occasionally blown by enigmatic digital volleys. "Holography" is a ... sketch viewed from the perspective of New Age, Jazz and ambient music. Using the same techniques but without as strong a melodic focus, the 7-minute "Blue Silk" relies on it's glacial intensity to beckon you. In "Paralell Action", essentially another ghostly symphonic poem, the inclusion of an electronic beat damages the overall flow of the piece. However, stripped down to the bare essentials, "Circled Take" sounds astonishing (percussion imitating the splatter of sea waves, the usual trumpet mourning, plus a brief breathtaking layer of choir). "Scuro" is another startling, albeit far more ominous, atmosphere. After this menacing eclipse, "Time Lapse" seems to revert the cosmic stream to it's regular equilibrium. while "Ending Image" heralds this return to the normal and completion of a circle with another elegant melancholic salute.

It's not that this album presents anything we haven't heard before, it's just extremely well done.

-ILY-