(08.18.06) Subject to a confused and confusing release pattern, the new full length release by Biosphere arrived not a moment too soon, only to prove a crushing disappointment. Originally released in the latter half of 2005 as a six track mini LP, the CD version didn’t emerge until February 2006. It expanded the album to eleven tracks and excluded “In the Shape of a Flute” that remains exclusive to the LP version. One can only guess why it should be released in this haphazard fashion, but it has done the album no favors at all.
All of this apparent randomness wouldn’t be so bad if the material here was really top notch but sadly it’s patchy and mediocre. The LP release is disappointing, the CD doubly so since it demands more than twice the amount of your time and delivers little extra. It would be churlish to expect more of the same from a new Biosphere album, especially since Jenssen has already delivered several releases that have been quite deliberately different from his previous, arctic works. On this occasion he has elected to throw a jazz twist into his ambient soundscapes, but this manifests itself as little more than simple jazz riffs or drums looped over field recordings for about six and a half minutes at a time. Obviously the jazz elements have been constructed in this way in order to tailor them to suite Biosphere’s now trademark looped ambient/drone style, but it painfully misses the point of jazz music in the first place: there’s no spirit of improvisation, no emotion, no soul and to add insult to injury, there’s scant little atmosphere in many of the pieces.
Dropsonde kicks off promisingly enough, the hissing of “Dissolving Clouds” acting as a backdrop to gentle and discreet electronic chimes before giving way to “Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings,” one of the few tracks that possesses a sufficient level of atmosphere and depth to maintain interest and enjoyment for its entire duration. The looped sound of whistling winds is combined with dusty, smoky hi-hat drum arrangements, gentle pulsing synths and wowing, nervous pads. But it’s mostly downhill from here: “Warmed by the Drift” sounds exactly like Geogaddi era Boards of Canada, but lacks the same spirit of nostalgia, and it lingers for too long; “In Triple Time” sounds like a Cirque cast-off, and doesn’t seem to quite fit the album; “From a Solid to a Liquid” and “Arafura” seem to be designed to test the patience – the former containing more hissing undertones and chiming synths, the latter consisting of a muddy and listless looped melody that drags on and on and on over a warm and rich backdrop of washes; and “Fall in Fall Out” is a spectral mass of vinyl crackle, baton-twirling percussion and yet more chiming, which is apparently supposed to engage the listener for over seven minutes.
“Sherbrooke,” on the other hand, is a wonderfully fresh, breezy mix of error-ridden ambient whirls and jammed, distorted hi-hat loops. The closing piece – the ten minute “People Are Friends” – is frustrating: a stunningly atmospheric background drone (that is subsequently joined by cut up spoken word samples) is almost spoiled by the inclusion of a rather whiney and monotonous synth part that meanders randomly, and then the piece abruptly cuts off, ending the album.
There are some genuinely exquisite pieces on Dropsonde, “Sherbrooke” and “Birds Fly by Flapping Their Wings” included, but they are crushed under the weight of an obese collection of bores that represent the product of an artist who no longer seems able to edit himself ruthlessly enough to create a truly engaging whole.
Dropsonde is out now on Touch. Buy it at Amazon.com.
