Search - Bjorn Olsson :: Instrumentalmusik

Reverberant

Craig Breaden | Durham, NC | 12/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is truly achieving music. Just as Erik Satie's Gymnopedies or Air's instrumental compositions reflect the clean lines of brief, composed, arranged pieces, Olsson's music benefits from his concentration on the heart of the matter, the importance of meaningfully melodic expression. Rough comparisons might include spaghetti western soundtracks, particularly in consideration of the powerfully simple lines drawn by Olsson's guitar playing, creaky organ, and rumbling kettle drums; yet the approach to the music is much less defined, maintaining a deft discipline within a larger context that recalls classic krautrock, its looping, droning character both full of life and detached, organic and electronic, permanent and fleeting. Too purely poetic for new age or pop or rock, and too developed for improvisatory exploration or simple folk, Instrumental Music seems to encompass them all, reflecting its recorded moment (and apparently, fittingly, it was a long moment on a Scandinavian shore, mostly at night) in aptly titled pieces like The Vision Unfolds Its Landscape. The hills roll, the waves break. Truly stunning, self-contained, a work in and of itself."

Textures for daydreams

Thieu Corre | New York City | 05/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What an odd creation for the 21st century, where electronica and hip-hop dominate the musical production. Olsson's album stands out as really unusual ambient music. This music falls somewhere between early electroacoustic music, psychaedelic rock, and music for films. As another reviewer has mentionned, the drum lines bring to mind Morricone's music for Leone's spaghetti westerns. This album is very mellow and dreamy. The sound is rich and thick. it's the kind of album where on first listens it seems as though all the songs sound the same, but then with each new listen, the identity of each song begins to emerge, without breaking the sonic unity of the album. Perfect for a rainy sunday morning or an evening of staring at stars and shadows."

Divine Ambience

Phillip Kinzer | Bowling Green, KY United States | 03/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fantastic albumn. It's definitely something that you don't hear everyday. It is perfect for many occasions, anything from subtle background music to complete submergence whilst shutting out the rest of the world. It's production and tones are very reminescent of mid to late 60's psychedelic rock but not over-the-top to the point of being a pretentious throwback. While having said that, I don't think that any other production or tone could have been better. A great albumn from up north with a complete lack of focus on image, the way music should be listened to."