DANIEL MEYER GRØNVOLD / HÅVARD VOLDEN – Daniel Meyer Grønvold / Håvard Volden

Creative Sources

Norwegian duo operating a pair of acoustic guitars laid on a table (one of them a 12-string), low budget electronics, a Discman and a dictaphone. I had enjoyed Volden’s work with Toshimaru Nakamura on Another Timbre, the brilliant Crepuscular Rays, but don’t seem to recall anything featuring Grønvold in my past inspections. The choice – as a number of artists recording for the Portuguese label do – of keeping things restricted inside the duration limit of half an hour is an intelligent one, especially when the sounds produced are absorbing enough like in this circumstance. It all starts with well-coagulated humming – of the type that immediately clogs the ears and the skull, changing its constitution according to our listening perspective. Then we’re off to a long piece defined by inhomogeneous droning and pallid strumming, the vibrational qualities of the various parts of the guitar somehow besmirched by unconsolidated electronic attendances materializing in scattered guise to change the level of pressure; thus, the atmosphere oscillates from tangibly mesmeric to mildly disarranged. A third important component – also sealing the record after an extended silent break towards the end – is shaped by a sporadic jangling chime that, in a way, made me think about Laraaji and his zithers, but with less “celestial” implications. I would recommend playing this CD quite loud and, as always, in peaceful environments to better enjoy its unostentatious aura.