Recount seems more like an observation deck towering over a mist-shrouded landscape.
Described as a “bridge” between albums, Recount seems more like an observation deck towering over a mist-shrouded landscape. Under his own name and as Svarte Greiner, Erik K Skodvin has made plenty of interesting music and Otto A Totland recently released a gorgeous piano album, but something incomparable happens whenever the two work together as Deaf Center (which is all too seldom in this reviewer’s opinion). The two, thirteen-odd-minute long pieces were recorded during rehearsal sessions in 2008 and 2012 (respectively in reverse order).
Recorded in Berlin at Skodvin’s studio, the air is thick around “Follow Still” as the piano gusts clusters of repetitive melody to clear the view. Underscored by a deep organ and, nearing the end, an eddy of guitar, every sound, including the pressing and flipping of pedals and switches, rises like goosebumps on the skin.
“Oblivion” was recorded in Oslo about midway between Pale Ravine and Owl Splinters and has something tropical about it, with lazy bowed guitar swaying in humid synthesizer air. Exquisitely lethargic, it would be too much of an effort to do anything but stare off into the distance.
Recount is available on Sonic Pieces.
