Kasper Bjørke * Mike Majkowsky – Ambientblog
KASPER BJØRKE – HEIMR (MUSIC FOR LANDSCAPES 1)
Heimr is an Icelandic word that can mean different things. It can mean ‘home’ as well as ‘world’ (which is not really strange if you think of it). It is also the title of this EP by Danish producer Kasper Bjørke, inspired by his journey across Iceland’s northwestern coast.
The four tracks obviously include field recordings from this trip, ‘but not as adornments but as vital co-narrators, grounding each composition in specific geographies while hinting at something universal’.
Bjørke combines these recordings with beautiful melodic and organic ambient layers, creating ‘a contemplative space where music becomes memory and landscape becomes language. It is a work that invites us to listen more deeply – to the world around us, and the world within.’
With its 23:44, this is a short EP that leaves you wishing for more. Luckily, the ‘1’ in the title indicates that there is more to come in the future.
Heimr is a digital-only release.
MIKE MAJKOWSKI – TIDE
Mike Majkowsky is an Australian double bassist, currently living and working in Berlin. He plays in many different groups and combinations (Discogs lists no less than 18 groups), but also releases solo albums.
His solo music ranges from purely acoustic to electro-acoustic to electronic.
Tide is somewhere in between: it is part acoustic (the cymbal rhythm and the bass, I presume) but definitely also electronic in nature.
It starts out like some soft late-night jazz piece in the beginning – the rhythm and melody are initially challenged by slightly disruptive feedback. As the feedback dissolves after a few minutes, you begin to notice that the piece gradually decelerates. It’s as if you’re slowly falling asleep.
Majkowsky uses another analogy himself: that of a bay at ebb tide.
‘At the edge of a bay, with the water moving incrementally and steadily away from the shore, in an ebb current, change is rarely perceived in real time, even upon constant observation. Very slowly, things become revealed in the sand. In Tide, the sounds gently edge away from each other, progressively stretching, gradually finding more space to resonate and hang in the air. Similar to the perspective at the edge of the bay, new sonic aspects are slowly revealed here, and changes are sometimes perceived only in hindsight.’
There are two parts, which can best be listened to together as a continuous whole. ‘Part II picks up where Part I left off, continuing the direction that was established, expanding further until finally coming to a close’.
The two parts, 16:20 and 16:25 respectively, would’ve perfectly fitted on a vinyl release of course… But (like many other releases recently) this is only available as a digital download.
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