Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, James McAlister - Planetarium
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| It's nice. It feels like the opening scene to an old science fiction film, and their unassuming names on the bottom are like the credits. |
It's in many ways a collaboration of dreams. Sufjan Stevens, singer-songwriter extraordinaire writes and sings about space and mythology and religion and everything, accompanied by James McAllister, his go-to drummer, Nico Muhly, film scorer and contemporary chamber music composer, and Bryce Dessner, multi-instrumentalist from The National. The project was apparently initiated back in 2011, when Muhly was commissioned to write a song cycle for seven trombones and a string quartet. Planetarium first appeared as a series of concerts in 2012, and for a long time it seemed unclear whether the music would ever be recorded and released, due to all members being plenty busy with other projects, but finally the album is here, and it is a beautiful thing.
At first it sounds most akin to my favorite Sufjan Stevens album, the grandiose, electronic The Age of Adz, and he certainly indulges in a lot of similar effects here (and even melodic elements). Muhly's intricate, ostinato-heavy orchestral work unsurprisingly pairs wonderfully with Sufjan's songs. However, distinguishing it thoroughly from any previous Stevens work, about half of the album consists of eerie droney passages and ambient pieces. While it doesn't make for a particularly accessible album, it succeeds in conjuring the uncanny feeling of floating through space, for vast stretches of emptiness between each time you encounter a celestial body, each of which have their own aura and personality and story.
There are some memorable hooks on here that have been bringing me back for the pop-song side of things, but each time I set out to listen to the album I end up losing myself completely in it, the ambiance and soundscapes captivating me as much as the Sufjan songs themselves (and among them are some of his most beautiful ones ever, such as opener "Neptune" and closer "Mercury"). I lose track of time and probably have fallen asleep once or twice to Planetarium's swells and explosions and dreaminess. It's a full-body experience, capturing the sense of joy, awe, curiosity, immersion and occasional drifting away that I get at great concerts. It's not the kind of album I can put on any time, but I'm super glad it exists. It takes me away from everyday life for a while and returns me with a slightly different perspective.
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| Quite an odd cover. Me finding out how it represents the music: It's the kind of shot in which other rappers would show off their gold chains and tattoos and look swag and imposing... but Cez shows no interest in this and in stead looks interrupted, vulnerable. Ok cool. |
It's a gramatically strange title in Norwegian, translating roughly to "Sometimes and others". The second album (fourth release) from 21 year old Norwegian-Portugese rapper Kristoffer Cezinando Karlsen is a beautiful and personal work. It's a great listen, because it manages to be vulnerable while sounding tough, somber and heavy while sounding trendy and cool. And it's not afraid to be grandiose and emotional even though it's a rap record. He's borrowing from Lars Vaular's book, and sounds a bit like that (more established) rapper's 2015 triple-EP project 666 ALT GIR MENING. He follows in the footsteps of Karpe Diem, groundbreakers for Norwegian rap. And Cezinando's gentle, unassuming rap style bordering between rapping and singing also reminds me of Yoni Wolf (of WHY?). Like Wolf, Cezinando pours his heart out and does so without once feeling dominating or obnoxious or annoying. He sounds like a really good friend confiding in you.
Cezinando collaborates with some of Norway's most interesting musicians here. A lot of the beats are from Ole Torjus from the electronica collective Rytmeklubben. Chamber pop wizard Einar Stray did the unique piano loop on "Tommelen på vekta", which cleverly stands out after the captivating hit single "Håper du har plass". And the closer "Er dette alt" featuring Chirag of Karpe Diem is a lovely collaboration between newcomer and idol.
The slow strings and autotune swaths of the enigmatic opening track immediately tells you your not in for a regular rap record, but the album gets a great start anyway as the intro segways into the upbeat "Heia meg", brass-laden epic "Ingenting er det samme men samme for meg", and goosebumps-inducing SKAM-anthem "Vi er perfekt men verden er ikke det". There are some less good cuts as well, where the production feels a bit boring and Cezinando's gentle voice less gripping, but I still find myself reaching for the repeat button once the album's 43 minutes have passed in a flash. That's a good sign.
The xx - I See You
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| Same logo, new colors. Fair enough. I like the reflections in the background. |
I'm impressed. British trio The xx invented their own genre in 2009, with their immediately iconic self-titled debut album, then released a rather lackluster rehash in 2012 exploring little new ground. After five years of silence, apart from Jamie xx' 2015 solo album In Colour (on which the best bits were all from around 2010), I had never expected such a good comeback from The xx as I See You. Their third album pushes their introvert sound in new, interesting, modern directions, broadening the pallette notably from that used on their first two, but keeping their best idiosyncracies at center stage.
It wasn't always clear that Romy and Oliver's quiet, dreamy, sensual singing would go well with the louder samples, upfront instruments (horns!) and heavier beats. Although the singles "On hold" and "Dangerous" both succeed massively thanks to the amazing production by Jamie xx which makes space for their gentle voices when necessary, I wasn't sure whether it would work on an entire album. But The xx don't forget the quiet end of their dynamic range either, which after all is their specialty. The result is a record with excellent flow, constant shifts in dynamics within and between songs keeping things interesting throughout.
Romy and Oliver hold up their end of the stick as well. The verses are as full of hooks as the choruses; the lyrics are stark and personal, often about lost love, but more interesting when dealing with cases such as Oliver's battle with alcoholism. Framing the songs as a struggling dialogue between two confused, regular people, strikes a powerful chord in the listener. And the two singers' voices sound heavenly together, as always.
What keeps this record (just barely) outside the top 10 for me this year, is that it goes down a bit too smoothly. There wasn't much replay value as I had expected when I ogled at its amazing sound back in January when it came out. The one song that I've been playing obsessively is "A violent noise", and I think it's the use of dissonance that does it. It's one of the most stripped-down songs, closest to their old sound (seemingly countering my arguments in this review so far), but it has this amazing squelchy guitar (?) in the background during the chorus. The final half minute, after the climax, is only the sparse chorus repeated with this eerie guitar line intensifying, and when it suddenly stops it leaves me with "Burn the witch"-level chills. It's awesome, and I wish the rest of I See You conjured up similar amounts of feels more often. Anyway, it's still a triumphant record, a grand return to form and blast back to relevance, whether The xx like it or not.
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