Rabot is a vibrant example of how electronic music can tap into sheer emotion. ELECTRONIC SOUND #36

more reviews

Havenaire is John Roger Olsson, a composer, musician and producer based in Stockholm. After many years performing as the melancholic pop act The Grand Opening, John Roger launched his new ambient electronic alias Havenaire early 2016. The debut album ’Tremolo’ was released on the US label Constellation Tatsu. Previously a guitarist and drummer by trade, now analog synthesizers dominates his sound. John Roger has always been interested in the process of making music and his sense for details is highly noticeable throughout the sound image. Besides his work as Havenaire, he’s recording and producing other artists in his studio in Stockholm. Other notable work is his electronic duo album ’Leve Hogrän’ with the renowned Swedish music producer Linus Larsson (Peter Bjorn and John, Ed Harcourt) on the jazz label Headspin, and with the instrumental band Hearts No Static on the German label Bureau B.

Inspired by old photos taken 1910 by Fredrik Enquist (1885-1963), a Swedish geographer, the theme of his new album Rabot for the Italian label Glacial Movements came to form. Layer upon layer building up walls of sound pushing its way slowly through out the albums six songs. He treats his ambience with a pop sensibility, massive sound that sometimes climaxes in chorus-like parts, with distant piano notes echoing in the background. While other times the music falls apart and only leaves traces of its previous monumental washing sounds. Pictured on the album cover is the majestic Rabots Glaciär, a gently sloping glacier mirroring the smooth subglacial valley floor. It’s situated on the western side of the Kebnekaise massif far up north in Sweden.

Track Listing:

1. Rabot

2. Enquist Photo 1910

3. Sylarna

4. Calving

5. Tarfala Valley

6. Sarek (Part 1-2)

Label: Glacial Movements

Artist: Havenaire

Release date : 30th November 2017

Format: CD Digipack ltd edition w/special finish + Digital

Cat. Num: GM031

Barcode: 8033959880296

Recorded by John Roger Olsson during 2016 at Möre Studio

Instruments used on this recording: Roland Juno-106, Moog Sub Phatty, Grendel Drone Commander, piano

Front cover photo of Rabots Glaciär taken by Fredrik Enquist 1910 and used by kind permission of the Bolin Centre for Climate Research

Sleeve design by Rutger Zuydervelt

Mastered by Linus Giertta

Thank you Alessandro Tedeschi, Linus Giertta, Per Holmlund, Alice, Doris and Dante

A Glacial Movements records release, November 2017

All rights reserved.

Recordings of water, ice and the struggle to stay warm, Langås brings the Ice Age to life.A CLOSER LISTEN

more reviews

Northaunt is the ambient project of Norwegian Hærleif Langås, and has since the late nineties released 4 albums where the signature sound is a mix of field recording from nature, soundscapes and ambient, inspired by norse nature and landscapes and our role as a part of nature.

The composing of ISTID came as a reaction to our modern lifes, our world and how it sometimes seem confusing, stressful and noisy. Put of by all this and inspired by books about earths history, iceages and the forces that formed the landscapes we have today, Hærleif started making ISTID, Iceage in Norwegian, to imagine a world of silence before man. This is the 3rd album in the series and we can now imagine man is about to start his lonely quest for meaning in the desolation.

The frozen winds of the north lash and temper the soul. Their constant breath drags the listener towards the more organic part of “Istid III”. Dark ambient made in Norway, third chapter of the Northaunt trilogy, hinged between the horizons of a remote Ice Age. Imperceptible the continuum between Part I and Part II. Some will-o'-the-wisps indicate the way to go. Mystic tolls, indecipherable background noises. Strategic field recordings. A female voice in the distance seals the apex of the loss even inside the body. The dull shades fade. Part III is the watershed track of the album, full of nostalgia. A slow flowing in a placid forest of sounds. Section of a moment. The hypnosis induced by Part IV breaks on a handful of words pronounced this time by a man. A net change of pace during the ten minutes of Part V. The atmosphere of meditation is favored by shy keyboard notes. The subterranean tensions lose their vigor. Glows radiate the darkness of the night. Deep and desolate. The embers that burns the last farewell to our day. Once it was fire on Earth.

Track Listing:

1. Part I

2. Part II

3. Part III

4. Part IV

5. Part V

Label: Glacial Movements

Artist: Northaunt

Release date : 28th February 2018

Format: CD 6 panels Digipack ltd edition w/special finish + Digital

Cat. Num: GM032

Barcode: 8033959880319

Northaunt is Hærleif Langås

Cover photo by Bjarne Riesto

Sleeve design by Rutger Zuydervelt

A Glacial Movements records release, February 2018

All rights reserved.