(01.12.06) The most recent full length release from the avant-garde experimental Lampse label is Norwegian Dag Rosenqvist’s grim, lonely mood piece I’ll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You. There are
obvious parallels to be drawn with the work of outfits such as Sigur Ros (particularly in the opening and closing pieces) both in style and in the heavily extended nature of the seven tracks included here, but Jasper TX chooses an altogether more esoteric direction with his sonic palette.
Perhaps the finest (and, tellingly, the most accessible) moment on the album is the deceptively simple “Braille,” which begins with searing distortion shrouding a lilting, piano lullaby and acoustic guitar arpeggios that gradually decreases in intensity until only the acoustic elements remain. “Letting Go (The world is coming to an end)” begins with a tinkling music box melody and the imagining of a guitar played by someone in the corner of a small, chilly room as people pace back and forth across creaky floorboards. This movement terminates four minutes into the ten minute piece, and the remainder of the track consists of nothing more than a drifting, misty drone: yes, that’s right, over six minutes of it. This extended section is clearly designed to sedate the listener in preparation for the somber nature of the pieces that follow, and at least in this sense it is very successful.
The peculiar, desolate and isolated seaside shanty-town atmosphere the album seems determined to evoke is heightened by “Help them die” and “Rounds,” the former featuring mournful accordion melodies underneath more acoustic guitar and the distorted sounds of heavy, gusting winds, the latter another drone piece that conjures images of dark, wind-swept and rain-soaked wooden buildings, sickly yellow light seeping from filthy windows into the half-light of the late evening. The imagery is followed through in the next piece, and would add up to a seamless and immersive experience if it weren’t for one thing: mid-way through the nine and half minute “my heart is broken, I’ve lost my way,” Rosenqvist irrevocably ruins the entire experience with several minutes of horrendous, scratchy and distorted noise that tears the listeners nerves to shreds. This section is excruciating: impossible to listen to it destroys the credibility of the album and actively discourages further listening of the work as a whole.
An album that is experienced more than enjoyed, I’ll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You is perhaps rather too personal a body of work, fatally damaging its accessibility. Desolate, stark, introspective and manipulative, this fascinating album will reward on those occasions in which you feel the need to sit and brood; it’s just a shame that many listeners will most likely be woken from their reverie by the aforementioned minutes of aural torture and forced to scrabble for the remote control.
I’ll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You is out now on Lampse.
