Geir Jenssen - Cho Oyu 8201m

Chris Watson writes:

"'Cho Oyu 8201m' is a wonderfully rich and well documented sonic adventure. A unique narrative full of deep rhythms and exciting textures. Beautiful design."

Straight No Chaser (UK):

Exclaim (USA):

Popmatters (USA):

Geir Jenssen, who also goes under the name of Biosphere, lives in a town in northern Norway and assembles soundscapes. The noises he uses in this one come from a trip he made up Cho Oyu, a mountain on the border between Nepal and Tibet. The amount of wind and bell on the album hint at the ease with which he could have been overwhelmed by the hugeness of the landscape and peace-and-Buddhism stereotypes of Tibetan life, but he chooses his samples sparingly and shows a holistic and precise appreciation of place, giving time to small, specific sounds, such as the tip-tap of birds pecking at biscuits on a rock, and the incidental grunts of passing yak herders. He’s helped by Jon Wozencroft, who tucks the CD into a stiff card envelope along with a map and tour diary. This is packaging with a sense of occasion. Every once in a while Jenssen overworks an effect, but in its totality Cho Oyu 8201m is an absorbing release: an arthouse documentary without the scenery.

Uncut (UK):

Mojo (UK):

All Music (USA):

Geir Jenssen is better known as Biosphere, the Norwegian electronic/ambient composer responsible for a half deck of albums on the Touch label between 1996 and 2006. He also recorded the soundtrack for the film version of Insomnia. Fewer still know that Jenssen is an experienced mountaineer. He traveled to Tibet in September and October of 2001 and climbed Cho Oyu, a mountain on the Tibetan/Nepalese border; it's the sixth largest peak in the world and is 8,201 meters high, hence the title. Jenssen made field recordings of all stages of his trip. It was rigorous: it took two weeks to get from Katmandu to the Base Camp in Tibet. The journey was taken slowly so as to avoid altitude sickness. Given that Tibet is literally the top of the world, making these recordings took some doing, whether it was the supply trucks blasting along mountain roads in the snow, transistor radios playing in high altitude, or birds that Jenssen fed to try to lure them closer. The voice of the sherpa, or his exhibition mates climbing, yak bells, livestock, horses galloping, the wind itself as wicked hail hit the tents in the middle of the night. It's all charted here. But these are not purely field recordings. There are subtle edits made, and even subtler effects added, and some listeners will recognize a bit of what's here as the rough source material for pieces on the Biosphere album Dropsonde, with sequencing done by the day, but perhaps not the exact hour. It's no matter, this is sound collage made from the rawest possible sources and then assembled, and it is a haunting, at times slightly harrowing experience. The listener is taken deep inside the climbing experience and how disorienting it is for a Westerner to exist in such a wild environment. One has to depend on the kindness of spirits, gods or one's own particular yiddam or protector deity. The overall feeling is that one is on holy ground, listening for the voice of the beyond, even among somewhat familiar sources - though few are. This recording will not appeal to everyone, to be sure, so Ash International should be commended for releasing such an arresting work. For those who encounter it with an open mind, it is the stuff of the fantastic, the void itself speaking through this man and his gear. It's remarkable, hushed, sacred, without being religious. It's the sound of the world coming to the listener in bits and pieces, whispers and roars. Cho Oyu 8201m is magical. [Thom Jurek]

Record Collector (UK):

Grooves Magazine (USA):

Finding Geir Jenssen 8,000 meters above sea level, making field recordings up the Tibetan Mountain of Cho Oyu, is hardly surprising, given his pseudonym Biosphere, his favored publicity shot on mountain in climbing gear, and the endless references to Arctic vastness and icy landscapes found in most reviews of his work. Nor is the substance of Cho Oyu 8201m a radical departure: loops of far-off percussion meshing with lightly processed gusts of wind and circling birds. Introducing a narrative element to Cho Oyu—allowing us to aurally follow Jenssen’s climb to the summit—is a welcome development, something only hinted at on previous releases.

Things begin at “Zhangmou,” a frontier town near the Nepalese/Tibetan border represented by an earthy drum loop, scrambling dogs, and the muffled clamor of anxious climbers—you can almost smell the incense. Further up, the campsite of “Palong” mixes bells, whistles, and the crackle of fire with a bass line seemingly taken from the squeals of a pig. “Chinese Basecamp” is more like the Biosphere of old, with cycles of grainy, synthetic tones rubbed up against shifting gusts of wind. Like the air, sound grows thinner the higher we climb: ghostly radio broadcasts puncturing the silence, with the sound of a passing plane in “Camp 1,” Norway’s national anthem on “Camp 1.5,” and traditional music of South Central Asia on “Camp 2.” The final “Summit” thoughtfully offers nothing but the sounds of a light breeze.

The combination of field recording and subtle electronics on Cho Oyu results in a kind of woozy loneliness, ably conveying both the vastness of such high places and the physical discomfort involved in making such journeys. Jenssen’s extensive liner notes detailing the expedition and Ash’s usual attention to packaging complete this rewarding release. [Joshua Meggitt]

Boomkat (UK):

Better known to the ambient-loving masses as Biosphere, Geir Jenssen is one of the most influential artists in his field. Responsible for the milestone album ‘Substrata’ among many others, Jenssen defined a sound and a time of ambient music and his compositions served as a precursor to the Deaf Centers and Tim Heckers of the world. This disc however sees the musician moving away from his delicate electro-acoustic compositions and into the realm of field recording, or more specifically diary recordings of an adventure in Tibet. The enclosed booklet describes the journey; Jenssen ventured up Cho Oyu, the worlds sixth highest peak at 8201 metres, with a group of fellow travellers and documented it beautifully with his writing, but the real adventure is hidden on the disc itself. Across twelve tracks Jenssen does his best to sum up the sights and sounds he was experiencing as he trekked through towns, villages and frozen landscapes. It might be a stray radio broadcast, a street musician, wind chimes and traffic in the distance or a cassette tape bought from a nearby shop – but what Jenssen manages on the record is simply heart-stopping. With only the simplest of means he has created an album which totally distils the current explosion in atmospheric, cinematic listening music – he has documented an actual adventure, a journey which could easily have been filmed with sound, letting the recordings tell the story. Of course what he ends up with transcends the term ‘cinematic’ – you know this is real, as you hear a dog barking or a voice shout in the background you are perfectly aware that Jenssen was sitting there recording these people and that is enough to make listening to the album a totally absorbing experience. An incredible package in typically lavish packaging, and a welcome addition to Geir Jenssen's already impresive catalogue. Highly Recommended.

Dagsavisen (Norway):

Mange går langt for kunsten, men Geir «Biosphere» Jenssen må ha satt en slags rekord: I 2001 klatret han til toppen av Cho Oyu i Himalaya, 8.201 meter over havet, og lydopptakene han gjorde på veien har han nå gitt ut på cd.

Her får vi dermed høre en del av kildematerialet for det briljante «Dropsonde»-albumet, som Jenssen ga ut tidligere i år under sitt faste artistnavn Biosphere, og som ble belønnet med karakter 6 av 6 her i Dagsavisen.

Da annonserte Jenssen i kjent provokativ stil at han ville trekke seg tilbake fra elektronisk musikk og heretter konsentrere seg om ren lyd, og denne plata kan tolkes som en bekreftelse på Geir Jenssens intensjoner. Som plateutgivelse stiller «Cho Oyu» en del sentrale spørsmål rundt våre oppfatninger av hva som er musikk. Samtidig, og pussig nok, låter dette ikke så forskjellig fra mye av det Geir Jenssen har laget som Biosphere de siste årene, på sin vei bort fra digitale rytmer, mot akustisk stillhet.

Dagens elektronika handler i stor grad om prosessering av lyd, og flere av sporene her er ikke bare rene «field recordings», men Jenssens bearbeiding av musikk han har snappet opp på veien. For eksempel «Jobo Rabzang», som er basert på looper fra en kassett med tibetansk musikk, og som i all sin skjøre enkelhet er blant det vakreste Geir Jenssen har laget.

Den forseggjorte cd-innpakingen inneholder utdrag av Jenssens dagbok fra den 45 dager lange ekspedisjonen. De tolv sporene på cd-en følger veien mot toppen, høyere og høyere. Det ligger dermed en spenning i plata, ikke ulikt magien fra guttedagenes hørespill på radio, med en vesentlig forskjell i vissheten om at lydene man hører er autentiske. Her er det ingen som knitrer med potetmelposer.

Cho Oyu er verdens sjette høyeste topp, og turen opp er hard og farlig. På veien opp møter de en ekspedisjon på vei ned bærende på en død klatrer. På femte dag av ekspedisjonen hører Jenssen på kortbølgeradioen at to fly har krasjet inn i World Trade Center. Det er den 11. september 2001, og verden skal aldri mer bli den samme, men Jenssen klatrer videre, til han når toppen sammen med sin sherpa Krishna, som den eneste fra sin ekspedisjon som kom helt fram. Plata avsluttes med lyden av vinden og stillheten på toppen av Cho Oyu, tidlig om morgenen, med utsikt mot Mount Everest.

Spørsmålet om dette er musikk, kunst eller bare lyd blir mindre viktig: Dette er fascinerende lytting. «Jeg tror ikke jeg vil gjøre en lignende reise igjen», konkluderer Jenssen i cd-heftet. Og dette er en plate man neppe vil få høre maken til. [Bernt Erik Pedersen]

Mapsadaisacal (UK):

“I would climb the highest mountain, I would run through the field, only to be with yooooooou” U2

“Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from yoooooooou” Diana Ross

“Unwanted side effects while taking [high altitude medicine] Diamox include drowsiness, fatigue, or a dizzy lightheaded feeling…in some cases, individuals may suffer depression, pains in the area of the kidneys, and bloody or black tarry stooooooooooools” Geir Jenssen

Those words are printed on the cover of Geir Jenssen’s singular contribution to the field of music about mountains. After the success of his Substrata album, he took all his royalties and blew them on a trip to Tibet in 2001 to climb the world’s sixth highest peak, Cho Oyu. Not one to miss an opportunity, he armed himself with a minidisc recorder, microphone and shortwave radio. Along with, I would assume, a load of mountaineering stuff like crampons and ropes, and whatever else they use. I don’t know. Hooks. Warm clothes. Sherpas. Anti-gravity devices. And Diamox.

Five years later, he has finally opted to release the results – under his own name, to distinguish these “field recordings” from the digital explorations he has released as Biosphere. Not that there is a lack of thematic continuity however – these pieces are in a sense an expedition to the very core of his work, both in terms of his use of such recordings to form the basis of a track (much of Dropsonde is based on these source materials), and in terms of the isolationist mood that hermetically seals you inside his albums. With Cho Oyo, all else is stripped away, leaving you naked, shivering and very alone.

The diary that accompanies the disc is gripping, nerveless and at times surreal stuff, as Geir recounts the frosty group dynamics, intense physical trauma (headaches, sickness, dizziness, freezing cold; no tarry stools as Geir elected to forego the Diamox), and occasional misguided attempts to tune back in to the rest of the world - hearing reports of planes crashing into the World Trade Centre, a War of the Worlds style hoax was assumed.

The recordings bring the words and pictures to life so vividly, tracking as they do the trip from the Tibetan border through basecamp, advanced basecamp, camps at 6400m, 6800m, 7100m, and 7500m before reaching the summit itself. The compelling organic rhythms of civilisation Geir finds in Zhangmu and Tingri - local instrumentation, a cassette of traditional Tibetan music - are quickly left behind on the drive to the first camp, replaced with an eerie stillness in which the smallest of sounds become massively portentuous, at times coalescing into tiny patterns (the yak bells distort in a manner akin to the powerful ringing tones of the guitar on John Fahey’s Red Cross). A sense of loneliness and disorientation increases as Geir ascends through the rarified atmosphere, sometimes the only sounds are of laboured breathing and a biting wind scouring the surface; this complete disconnection is broken only by the music and plane chatter picked up on the radio. At times you feel like you are the one who should be taking the altitude sickness tablets.

Geir’s reasons for punishing himself thus are conspicuously absent from his diary. However in doing so, he has scaled more than one peak – to the besting of the world’s sixth highest mountain can be added the fashioning of possibly his finest artistic statement. Buy it, and buy a big coat too - you are going to need it.

Read Geir’s diary and see some amazing photos of the expedition here

Bad Alchemy (Germany):

Cho Oyu 8201m (Ash 7.1) ist so ein Stück Natur, der sechshöchste Ausbuchtung der Erde nach oben. GEIR JENSSEN, ansonsten bekannt als Biosphere, war dort. Der Beginn seines Abenteuers in Tibet am 10./11.9.2001 fiel zusammen mit der Nachricht vom Einsturz der Twin Towers, eine Erschütterung jenseits des Horizontes, die die nepalesische Grenze nur als Kurzwelle erreichte. Jenssen, der gerade Heinrich Harrers 7 Jahre in Tibet fertig gelesen hatte, fühlte sich wie von Orson Welles War of the Worlds gestreift. Er selbst führte Tagebuch, das als ’Only Krishna and I' der CD beiliegt. Auch akustisch notierte er die Etappen seiner Reise auf das Dach der Welt mit einen MiniDisc-Recorder. Die Stationen führten von ’Zhangmu' über ’Tingri und ’Jobo Rabzang' zum chinesischen Basiscamp (4830m). Weiter dann über ’Palung' (5400m), wo eine Yak-Karawane vorüber zog, und ’Nangpa La', wo er Krähen und Tauben mit Biskuit anlockte, um sie aufzunehmen, zum ’Cho Oyu Basecamp' (5700m) und weiter zu ’Camp 1' (6400m), wo er Funkverkehr registrierte von einem Nachtflug über den Himalaya. In ’Camp 1.5' (6800m) erreichte ihn über Kurzwelle ’Blå ne etterr Blå ne' aus der Heimat, auf ’Camp 2' (7100m) Weltmusik aus dem südlicheren Asien. Auf ’Camp 3' (7500m), von einem Hagelsturm in die Zelte verbannte, belauschte Jenssen ein zweites Team, das seine Sauerstoffmasken benutzte. Am 34. Tag, dem 10. Oktober, gelang ihm und dem Sherpa Krishna der Aufstieg auf den Gipfel, ein dritter Kamerad musste wegen Erfrierungen umkehren. Jenssen übersteht auch den Abstieg, auf dem die meisten Unfälle passieren, fast zu erschöpft, um sein Gepäck zu schnüren und sich zu Camp 2 zu schleppen. Er macht, ohne selbst zu prahlen, begreiflich, dass kein Spaziergang zum Cho Oyu führt. Erfrierungen, Ödeme, Sauerstoffmangel, Schlafprobleme, Auszehrung, Erschöpfung sind ständige Gefahren, die nur durch aufwändige Logistik vermieden oder bewältigt werden können. Jenssen selbst, glücklich zu den Cappucinos und Pastas in Katmandu zurückgekehrt, hat zumindest vorerst genug von so extremen Abenteuern. Der Soundtrack vermittelt uns Stubenhockern zwölf Klangbilder des Trips, aufgenommen mit den Ohren eines Musikers. Mit jedem Höhenmeter bleibt ein Stück Exotik zurück, die Klänge werden spezifischer und seltener. Man taucht in eine Zone ein, die nur noch aus zu dünner, zu eisiger Luft und aus Funk- und Radiowellen besteht. Einst steckte der Renaissancemensch den Kopf durch die Käseglocke seiner kleinen Welt, um ’draußen' die große zu entdecken. Jenssen ist einer der wenigen, die zu Fuß die nächste Membrane durchstoßen haben. Um heimzukehren nach Tromsdalen mit der Erkenntnis, das die Biosphäre an ihrer Peripherie den Menschen nicht braucht.

de:bug (Germany):

Other Music (USA):

I've often thought that mountain climbers must be amongst the most masochistic and selfish assholes on earth. Did you read that Into Thin Air book that was made into an IMAX movie about a disastrous Mt. Everest ascent in which a number of climbers died due to greed, glory hounding, and the inherent stupidity of attempting to stand on the highest spot in the entire world? What was wrong with those people and why did their families let them go in the first place? That cautionary tale hasn't seemed to stop anybody though, folks keep shelling out money year after year to climb the thing and they keep dying just the same. I guess that if it's that important to you though, then go on ahead. Now I don't know for sure if he's a masochist or an a**hole, but Geir Jenssen is a mountain climber, and in 2001 he completed an ascension of Cho Oyu in Tibet; at 8,201 meters tall, it's the world's sixth largest peak. Armed with a mini-disc recorder instead of an IMAX camera, he managed to create a highly intimate, personal, and listenable aural portrait of his trip. As much as I love, say, Chris Watson or Steven Feld, I often find these field recording albums to be more interesting in theory than in practice, but I was really surprised at how musical this CD ended up being and that it truly bore repeated listening. Perhaps it shouldn't be that surprising actually, as Jenssen is better known as the mastermind behind Norway's Biosphere, a popular and much lauded ambient act who have always been quite engaging. The twelve tracks are subtitled with descriptors that should give you some sense of what to expect; Crossing a Landslide Area, A Yak Caravan Is Coming, Birds Feeding on Biscuits, Himalayan Nightfall, etc. You also get some lovely impressions of what life as a Sherpa must be like day in and day out. Included is a ten page pamphlet with photographs from his trip, as well as entries from his travel diary that are occasionally rather harrowing, and which further confirm my mountain climber = insane masochist hunch. [MK]

SOMA (USA):

As Biosphere, Norwegian Geir Jenssen has created some astonishing 4th World recordings. Most often released on the Jon Wozencroft-curated Touch label - responsible for landmark releases by the likes of Ryoji Ikeda, Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and Johann Johannsson to name a few - he has a deft hand combining field recordings (typically recordings of natural outdoor sounds) with slow-moving, minimal electronics. Here, Jenssen has documented his climb up Cho Oyu (the sixth highest mountain on Earth) in Tibet to stunning affect. Far from the mishaps of poorly executed "World" fusions, Jenssen mixes real sounds as he experienced them - one can detect a Yak crossing filled with bells at one point, Tibetan conversation, and radio snippets elsewhere - with his hovering Calder-esque electronics and a beautiful booklet with photos and daily writing entries. As such, he has created a tactile, enveloping journal that bristles with life and mirrors the reflective, receptive atmosphere of his journey. Brilliant stuff then. [Alexis Georgopoulos]

VITAL (The Netherlands):

On Ash International we find a CD by Geir Jenssen, mostly known as Biosphere (and as such with releases on Touch), but since we are dealing here with a strict project of field recordings, it is released under his own name. In September and October 2001 he undertook a trip into Tibet, climbing the Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain of the world. Whereas others would probably take a camera, Jenssen is more the kind of guy to take a minidisc and a microphone to make a sonic diary. He also took a world band receiver so that he could listen to the news (and thus heard about 9/11 high in the mountains). Mentioning the shortwave is important, since unlike Watson/Nilsen, Jenssen records some sounds of that in the environment he is, and they ended up on the CD. That marks already one big difference between this and the previous CD. Some of the tracks use these shortwave sounds in addition to the field recordings. Another difference is the fact that Jenssen's twelve tracks are more pure recordings of events and situations, and the previous is a musical collage of various recordings at the same time. Throughout these pieces are minimal, but are clearly defined. Each is a snapshot of a particular part of the journey. Although Vital Weekly didn't review 'Dropsonde', it's easy to see why some of this was used as source material on that particular Biosphere CD. In terms of music, this is unmistakably the more musical one of the two that deal with field recordings. The release comes with an extensive booklet, also a diary, but then of words, of which the last entry reads: "I'm not sure I'd ever undertake a similar journey. Once was enough." [FdeW]

kultureflash (UK):

According to Jon Wozencroft, founder of Touch, Geir Jenssen (aka Norwegian ambient artist Biosphere) spent all the money that he got from the considerable sales of his Substrata album to fund an expedition to Tibet, specifically to climb Cho Oyu - the world's sixth highest peak. Documenting this expedition in the form of a written diary and minidisc field recordings has resulted in what is possibly his best work yet. And yes, the expected sounds of wind chill are there - a sonic reminder of the extreme nature of the environment, but also the idea of man's insignificance in such vast and isolated surroundings. The constant need to communicate is represented by the sound of local people, 2-way radio chatter or tuning into the comforting but otherworldly ether of shortwave radio. Cyclic rhythms drift in and out of the recordings and whilst they're subtle, they help retain a sense of narrative... of being in motion. Lavishly packaged and almost presented like a guidebook, the inclusion of a map suggests that you could re-create the journey yourself. The ultimate statement in audiotourism.

Terz (Germany):

Wie dieser Kletterkaiser z.B.: als Biosphere hat der Norweger schon mal gerne kalbende Eisberge gesampelt, 2001 wagte er sich dann selbst in den Himalaya und lässt euch jetzt mittels fantastisch arrangierten field recordings an seiner Besteigung des Cho Oyu in Tibet, dem sechsthöchsten Berg der Welt, teilnehmen. Hier ist ein Ambientalbum des Jahres. Ambient? - 30 Grad, bösartige Winde, der vollständige Verzicht auf Sauerstoff bis zum Gipfel und großes Wetterglück - dieses Audio ist kein Spaziergang, aber uns Sesselpupern kommt es angesichts dieser oft faszinierend ruhig wirkenden Scapes so vor. Ein außergewöhnlich schönes und aufwändiges Artwork begleitet dieses einmalige Hörerlebn.

Kindamusik (Germany):

Ook benieuwd waar Biosphere zijn inspiratie vandaan haalt bij het maken van zijn ijzige, ruimtelijke ambient? Zoek niet verder: dit album vol licht gemanipuleerde veldopnames uit Tibet is het antwoord. Geir Jenssen - hij is meneer Biosphere - is behalve muzikant ook fotograaf en begenadigd bergbeklimmer. In 2001 heeft hij zonder zuurstof de Cho Oyu beklommen in Tibet, met een hoogte van 8201 meter de op vijf na hoogste berg van de wereld. Jenssen zou Jenssen niet zijn als hij geen recorder mee had genomen om veldopnames te maken tijdens die expeditie. Normaal gesproken zorgt zulks dan voor het benodigde bronmateriaal voor een Biosphere album. Zo ook hier: op het vroeg in 2006 verschenen Dropsonde is regelmatig gebruik gemaakt van deze opnames.

Wat is echter het geval? De veldopnames waren zo welsprekend en wonderschoon dat ze met wat lichte aanpassingen hier en daar zo uitgebracht konden worden. Het eindresultaat is - hoe kan het anders - een stuk minimaler dan een normaal Biosphere album, en benadert soms de essentie van eenzaamheid en pure stilte. Prachtige drones, sfeerklanken van spelende kinderen vermengd met zacht galmende Tibetaanse klankschalen, windgeluiden, op de top opgevangen korte golf radio-uitzendingen uit Noorwegen, een gesamplede en bewerkte tape met Tibetaanse volksmuziek; het staat er allemaal op en het is zonder uitzondering allemaal even prachtig.

Verwacht dus geen ritmische benadering zoals dat bij Biosphere vaak voorkomt. Dit is minimaler, abstracter en ontoegankelijker, en wellicht voor sommigen ook minder muzikaal, aangezien het ergens op de grens tussen geluid en muziek ligt.

Om het nog mooier te maken zit het geheel in een mooie hoes en krijg je er een boekje bij met het reisverslag van Geir Jenssen zelf, compleet met eigen, machtig mooie foto's. Het blijkt een echte meerwaarde, want zo gaan de opnames echt leven en krijgen ze veel meer betekenis. Zo is Cho Oyu 8201m: Field Recordings From Tibet een indrukwekkend document geworden; een soundtrack bij het reisverslag van een barre tocht in woord en beeld van Geir Jenssen.

Goon (Germany):

Wem der Name Geir Jensson unbekannt erscheint, der wird eventuell bei dem Pseudonym Biosphere hellhörig. Seit Anfang der 1990iger Jahre hat der norwegische Komponist zehn Alben produziert und in etlichen anderen Projekten mitgewirkt. Das erste, was an seinem neuen Album auffällt, ist die wirklich schöne und aufwendig gestaltete Verpackung. (Leider ist sie so groß, dass sie kaum Platz in meinem CD Regal findet.) Anbei ist ein kleines Tagebuch, welches die Reise von Geir Jensson beschreibt, wie er im September/Oktober 2001 an einer Bergexpedition an der tibetanisch-nepalesischen Grenze teilnahm und dort den sechsthöchsten Berg der Welt, den Cho Oyu (8201m) bestieg. Diese Aufnahmen bestehen zum größten Teil aus Field Recordings und sind quasi der Soundtrack zur Reise. Sie geben einen kleinen Einblick, in welcher akustischen Vielfalt sich Land und Leute bewegen. Wer ältere Produktionen von Biosphere kennt und die vielschichtigen, weichen, minimale Klanglandschaften mit tiefen Bässen erwartet, wird daher vielleicht enttäuscht werden. Im Vordergrund stehen die reinen Aufnahmen eines Mp3-Players, die, aufgeteilt auf zwölf Schienen, die verschiedenen Standorte der Expedition markieren. Du schließt die Augen, und bist in Nepal: der Wind bläst dir um die Ohren, der Straßenverkehr dort umgibt dich, Windglockenspiele und Menschen in Unterhaltungen, Krähen bei ihrem Spiel, in einiger Entfernung eine Radiostation. Es zeigt die Vielfalt der Natur, einer Kultur und des Menschen; nicht mehr doch auch nicht weniger. [Matthias Lux]

Radio France (France):

Cet enregistrement a été réalisé par Geir Jenssen, musicien norvégien plus connu des amateurs de musique électronique sous le nom de Biosphere. Geir Jenssen a toujours attaché beaucoup d'importance à l'élément géographique en tant que matière sonore à l'inclure dans ses compositions musicales. C'est au Tibet, sur le toit du monde à plus de 8 mille mètres d'altitude - et sans oxygène - que cet artiste et alpiniste chevronné est allé chercher les éléments sonores de son nouvel opus discographique. Quarante cinq jours de marche et d'ascension extrême pour recueillir quelques chants traditionnels tibétains, des sons de troupeaux, le dernier engin motorisé avant de rejoindre l'ambiance sonore désertique mais jamais silencieuse de ce sixième sommet le plus haut du monde. En voici un extrait tout à fait magique, enregistré la nuit à plus de 7.000 m d'altitude pendant qu'une lointaine station radio diffuse sur les ondes courtes une musique traditionnelle répétitive involontairement accompagnée par le bruit du vent sur les parois. Ce nouvel album de Geir Jenssen est superbement présenté sur le label Ash International. [Eric Serva]

Blow Up (Italy):

Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden):

Ett soundtrack till norrmannen Geir Jensens (mer känd som Biosphere) bestigning av det tibetanska berget Cho Oyu (den sjätte högsta toppen i världen) i Himalaya 2001. Fältinspelningar och dagbokstexten i det fina omslaget ger kittlande utsnitt ur hans resa med hjälp av atmosfäriska ljud av röster, natur och tibetansk musik. En rik upplevelse med förväntningar, stillhet och intryck, inte minst för oss som aldrig kommer att nå dessa höjder. [Magnus Olsson]

Octopus (France):

Dans les colonnes d'Octopus, nous louons souvent les qualités d'aventurier sonore de nombre d'artistes que nous défendons. Pourtant, peu parmi eux dépasse le cadre formel de l'aventure virtuelle, domestique ou simplement « ethnographique » pour défier, dans les limites de leur champ artistique, leurs propres limites humaines. A l'écoute de ce Cho Oyu 8201 m, la perception du travail de Geir Jenssen, plus connu sous le nom de Biosphere, s'élargit. Derrière le musicien, on devine le baroudeur. Derrière les sons qui se meuvent, on perçoit le risque qui grandit. Le goût de Geir Jenssen pour l'isolationnisme boréal, pour les ambiances arctiques profondes et feutrées est bien connu. Mais sur Cho Oyu 8201 m, le natif de Tromso délaisse son grand nord séminal pour se transporter dans une autre terre sacrée des paysages montagneux et glacées, l'Himalaya, et se fondre dans une expédition dont l'objectif est d'atteindre rien moins que le sixième sommet de la planète, quelque part entre le Népal et le Tibet. Dropsonde, son précédent album, paru sur Touch, exploitait déjà du matériel audio tiré de ce voyage d'altitude. Mais Cho Oyu 8201 m se pose davantage sous la forme d'un carnet de route, d'une cartographie sonore mettant en relief les détails saillants de ce qui est avant tout une formidable aventure humaine. Armé de son minidisc et son micro Sony, Geir Jenssen observe et avance au sein de ce trek de six alpinistes et d'un sherpa avec son application rigoureuse. Un sens du détail qui lui fait mettre en valeur des scènes incongrues comme ces oiseaux dévalisant des paquets de biscuits ("Bird feeding on biscuits"). Mais surtout, au fil de ce périlleux trajet, l'importance du rapport à l'humain semble croître, persistant comme un défi à la distance à travers cette haute immensité. Les bribes de musiques captées à l'aide de son poste radio onde courte, les semblants de conversation permises par le téléphone cellulaire rythment les dernières foulées vers un sommet matérialisé par le dernier morceau du cd. Même perché au sommet du monde, l'homme reste à l'écoute de lui-même. Cela Geir Jenssen l'a bien compris. [Laurent Catala]

Milk (UK):

Best known for his ambient work as Biosphere, Norwegian musician Geir Jenssen is also an accomplished mountaineer. In 2001, he took part, with five other climbers and a Sherpa, in an expedition to climb Mount Cho Oyo, the sixth highest summit in the world. Culminating at 8201m, the mount is situated on the border between Tibet and Nepal, a stone throw away from Mount Everest. This album and its accompanying booklet document the month-long expedition and give an insight into Jenssen’s state of mind during the trip. It also gives an idea of what mountaineers attempting such a journey are faced with, from freezing cold temperatures to altitude sickness and physical and mental pain.

Armed with a MiniDisc recorder, a microphone and a shortwave radio receiver, Jenssen collected field recordings through the whole ascension and they are presented here entirely in their naked form, documenting the journey from the moment the expedition crossed the border into Tibet to reaching the first base camp, various intermediate camps and finally the summit, thirty days later.

The recordings weave an intricate and, at times, oppressive, sonic web as the expedition progresses through the first stages of the ascent, ranging from urban noises and everyday life recorded in the last towns and villages crossed to herds in transit, music captured on the shortwave radio receiver, birds feeding, someone breathing through an oxygen mask and storms. As the expedition gets nearer to the goal, the accrued effort required due to the rarefied oxygen transpires through denser soundscapes and shorter selections, as if the simple fact of recording was progressively becoming too demanding.

While the recordings are stark testaments of the gruelling conditions faced by Jenssen and his companions, the accompanying essay, entitled Only Krishna & I, provides a much more personal and touching view on the expedition as Jenssen documents the journey, from the moment he finds an advert in a mountaineering magazine to being the only one, with his Sherpa, to reach the summit, to his return to Katmandu.

The Wire (UK):

dMute: (France):

Au moyen de fields recordings attrapés sur Minidisc, Geir Jenssen (Biosphere) nous transporte au sommet du Cho Oyu, mont himalayen situé à la frontière tibéto-népalaise, auquel il s'est attaqué à l’automne 2001.

Carnet de route sonore, Cho Oyo raconte 8201 m de transport. A terre (Zhangmu, Tingri), des bribes de conversations filtrant parmi clochettes et gongs, le bruit d’un moteur ou le chant d’un torrent. Et puis, après avoir mis en boucle un court passage de musique tibétaine retenue sur cassette (Jobo Rabzang), c’est l’ascension. A 5400 mètres de hauteur, Jenssen croise quelques bergers accompagnés de leurs troupeaux (Palung). Dernière présence animale, une nuée d’oiseaux (Cho Oyn Basecamp, Nangpa La).

Moins fréquentes, les rencontres se font aussi moins concrètes : voix d’un pilote d’avion survolant les parages (Camp 1) ou faible mélodie passant à la radio (Camp 15) captés par les appareils de Jenssen. Qui enfermeront aussi la rumeur d’une tempête de grêle (Camp 3) et celle de l’ambiance régnant au sommet (Summit).

Forcément insaisissable dans son intégralité, la portée de ces field recordings n’en est pas moins fascinante. Matériau ayant servi à la confection de Dropsonde – album de Biosphere sorti en 2005 -, Cho Oyo 8201 m expose concrètement la somme de souvenirs influents, et invente une cartographie d’enregistrements rares. [Grisli]

SWR2 NOWJazz (Germany):

Geir Jenssen ist ein norwegischer Name. Der Photograph lebt in Tromso, mehrere hundert Kilometer nördlich des Polarkreises. Motive findet er dort viele: Rentiere, Polarlicht und samische Kothen sind die klischeebeladensten, aber auch karge, felsige Berge und allerlei Pflanzen und Tiere, die der Kälte und der winterlichen Dunkelheit standhalten. Als Musiker ist Geir Jenssen eher bekannt unter seinem Pseudonym “Biosphere". Schon dieser Künstlername verrät, dass sich Jenssen nicht nur mit der Kamera, sondern auch mit dem Mikrophon in die Landschaft hinaus begibt. Feldaufnahmen fließen immer wieder in seine Musik ein. In dieser NOWJazz-Sendung werden musikalische Pfade des Musikers erwandert, damit die Hörerinnen und Hörer gedanklich dem Bergsteiger Jenssen und dessen Tonspuren auf einen der höchsten Berge des Himalaya folgen können. [Nina Polaschegg]

Nordis (Germany):

Groove (Germany):

musiquemachine (UK):

Cho Oyu 8201m sees Geir Jenssen, of electronic ambient project Biosphere, collecting together, manipulation and editing sound recordings from his trip up Cho Oyu in Tibet- the sixth highest mountain in the world.

Each track follows a leg of the jouney with a few minutes of related sounds and music. Jenssen skilfully takes ethnic music, radio jingles and all manner of harmonic audio sounds as a back bone for most of the track, then adds on top all manner of environmental sound be it; wind,animals or people- in a effective and entertaining manner. Making each piece a musically sound work in it’s own right and not just purely unedited field records. So as a result this is replayable and enjoyable more than simple field recording cd. It all comes in a wonderful oversize cd wallet with a full colour 12 page booklet detailing his trip with both pictures & text . On the back of the wallet is a map of the area covered, giving the feeling that real thought has gone into the booklet and wallet, much like the sound and music.

A worthwhile mix of field recordings, ambience and interesting audio editing- that really acts as a audio dairy to Jenssen's trip and a enjoyble album to boot. Let’s hope he decides to present his future trips in a simlar manner. [Roger Batty]

Earlabs (The Netherlands):

Most people know Geir Jensen through his aka as Biosphere. Under this moniker he has released a range of cd’s in the ambient sector. In the 80’s he was part of a band called Bel Canto but he decided to work solo under the name Biosphere. The name being a reference to the Biosphere 2 Space Station Project.

Jensen lives in a secluded town called Tromsö in Norway, keeping a distance from the noisy and busy world. I think that is more and more becoming a very relative notion since the Internet pervades every part of the Earth and everyone is easily accessible. But, it’s true, physical contact with someone living there is a different matter. This does not lead to solo releases exclusively because in the past years he worked together with Higher Intelligence Agency, Deathprod. and Peter Namlook (of the famous Fax recordings).

Biosphere’s music varies but always circles around in the ambient area. Sometimes it’s more percussive than at other times when it features loops and droney harmonics. A few years ago he presented a new soundtrack to Dziga Vertov’s ’Man With A Movie Camera’ (1929) which I think was quite good. The atmosphere of the images is caught quite nicely.

Touch now releases a cd under his own name, Geir Jenssen. I guess this done in order not to confuse the audience with the Biosphere work and indeed because this work is much more personal than anything Jenssen has released so far. Cho Oyu 8201m contains, just like the subtitle says, field recordings from Tibet. The recordings have been made with a SonyMZ-R30 minidisc recorder and a Sony ECM-S959C microphone. It is quite different from the Biosphere stuff. Here, rhythm and melody are not the main characters but the recordings that are made while Jenssen climbed the Cho Oyu. Yes, we learn that Jenssen actually also is an experienced climber of high mountains.

The cd is an audiolog / narrative composition that follows the time line of his journey to the summit of the Cho Oyu. We start the audio near the Nepalese/Tibetan border and then go up with the composer in 12 audio works. The complete textual narration, which is also presented in the book that comes with the cd, can be read online (http://www.biosphere.no/cho_oyu). Actually the text greatly improves the experience of the audio. I had my first listening before reading the text and it is interesting to read the thoughts I jotted down while listening. I must say that before listening to this cd I heard BJ Nilsen/C.Watson's ‘Storm’. The latter, also is based on phonographic recordings. But whereas the Nilsen/Watson cd is more of a Turner-like depiction of a natural phenomenon, the Jenssen cd is much more narrative and almost cartoon-like. Jenssen’s compositions are layers and juxtapositions of recordings made during his trip at various stages. The scenery which he presents is like a Tin-Tin comic, with clear shapes and bright colors. In general there is little depth. The recordings are of good quality but the compositions are unable to take me along.

During my second listening session I also read the text. If you have read more climber’s stories like “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer then you know already a little about the climbing tourism. Krakauer wrote a wonderful book about this. Of course Jenssen’s report is much shorter, much more factual and closer to his own experiences. This, together with the audio on the cd, enhances the experience and actually while reading and listening I had a great time. As with all Touch releases this one is beautifully designed and carries a booklet with other climbing photographs that make the experience even better.

In conclusion I think that Jenssen experiments with phonography might lead to interesting results. In any case he can come up with recordings that are not made by many. It is the first time, as far as I know, that he lets go of the musical context (in the classical sense) which also opens up new possibilities. There are however two points for consideration: first is the concept of recording and second is the concept of the composition. There are excellent examples for inspiration inside the Touch catalogue. [Jos Smolders]

Nordische Musik (Germany):

Schon die Verpackung bricht mit Format und Aufmachung konventioneller CDs, und auch die Entstehungsgeschichte hört sich ungewöhnlich an. Doch was ist schon »normal« bei Geir Jenssen alias Biosphere? Die Aufnahmen entstanden bei Jenssens Besteigung des sechsthöchsten Berges Cho You an der tibetanischen/nepalesischen Grenze. Seine 45tägige Bergtour, die den Nordnorweger an den Rand seiner physischen Grenzen brachte, kann man im umfangreichen Booklet nachlesen und auf CD nachhören.

Er nahm vor allem Umgebungsgeräusche auf - Wind, die Glocken von Yaks, Tabla-Getrommel, feilschende Markthändler, Hagelstürme und den Kurzwellenfunk eines passierenden Flugzeugs oder der Titelmelodie von Radio Norway International. Als Instrumentarium fungierten demnetsprechend nur MiniDisc Recorder, Mikrofon und Weltempfänger, wobei er sich eine nachträgliche elektronische Ver- und Bearbeitung der Klänge nicht nehmen ließ. Packend! [PEB]

Ruis (Belgium):

Geir Jenssen, ofwel Biosphere, is bij ons bekend als de man die ons reeds meermaals de perfecte nachtelijke koptelefoonambient bezorgde uit het hoge noorden. Dat hoge noorden heeft hij voor deze opnames even ingeruild voor een zware klimtocht naar de Cho Oyu, de zesde grootste berg ter wereld die uitstrekt tot Nepal. Gewapend met een minidisk, een microfoon en een kortegolfradio-ontvanger vatte hij de dertig dagen grimmige klim aan. Het album is een vrij persoonlijk en poëtisch verslag geworden met zowel gevarieerde veldopnames als een mooi uitgegeven (dag)boekje. [DD]

d-side (France):

Rumore (Itay):

Touching Extremes (net):

In 2001, Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere) travelled to Tibet with the aim of climbing the Cho Oyu mountain - sixth highest top of the world - armed with minidisc, microphone, shortwave radio and photographic equipment. Jenssen’s trip is now documented by the diary that he wrote during the climb - which is transcribed in the CD booklet and, with additional photos, in his website biosphere.no - and by the twelve tracks of this splendid CD, one of those items that, when received in a certain frame of mind, make me feel literally inadequate and - in this particular case - full with admiration for people like Jenssen, who endure huge efforts to fulfil their quest for something that no word can define correctly. The sounds of "Cho Oyu" are radiant in their simplicity, presenting us with lots of suggestive views of the Tibetan environment while working effectively as a spirit-heightening
background. A herd of yaks is led by the shepherds with melodic whistling, eliciting a heartwarming sense of purity; shortwave interferences of an airplane's staff communicating with ground control, casually recorded at night by Jenssen while he was at 6400m, remind us how lonely we can be - wherever we are. The wind is omnipresent: one can feel the limbs freezing even while sitting on the couch. When the raw materials get treated, the magic springs out in large quantities, like in the fantastic loop of Tibetan music in "Jobo Rabzang", which is
as good as any Jon Hassell masterpiece. "Cho Oyu" is deeply significant in every aspect, uncovering our most hidden sense of non-belonging and subjecting it to the universal laws, to see if there is still a chance of avoiding everyday's useless gestures and comments. Jenssen's aural and written narrative are straight- forwardly efficient: I found myself reading the text, surrounded by these sounds and voices both at late night and very early morning, trying to adapt my imagination to a similar ordeal, something that I’m almost sure I won't be able to
experience in my life. Thanks to Geir Jenssen's profoundness, I can at least feel it a little nearer. It's not enough, though. [Massimo Ricci]

Wreck This Mess (France):

Voici peut-être l'ultime carnet de voyage… Avec des enregistrements à faire pâlir d'envie Chris Watson. On pense aussi à l'audiotourisme de Freeform au travers du Vietnam et de la Chine ou encore aux captations de Yannick Dauby dans les rues de Taipei… En effet, Geir Jenssen plus connu sous le nom de Biosphere nous donne à entendre l'environnement sonore dans lequel il s'est immergé pendant un mois et demi. Les échos d'un véritable périple puisqu'il s'agit d'une expédition au Tibet, en septembre 2001, avec ascension d'un sommet à 8201 mètres à la clef ! Avec les problèmes physiques et la logistique que cela suppose… Geir Jenssen raconte tout cela de manière concise dans le livret. On se retrouve donc en "prise direct" avec lui sur les routes du Népal, à la frontière de la Chine. On n'a même pas besoin de fermer les yeux pour imaginer le décor tant le son, les bruits sont "parlants" : les clochettes des chevaux tirant des carrioles, des éclats de voix et des bribes de conversations dans des langues qui nous sont inconnues, le mugissement des camions à la peine sur les routes escarpées, le hennissement des yacks et les sifflets des bergers, le grésillement de communications radios… Ensuite, une fois en haut, c'est le feulement du vent glacial et son souffle court, pour cause de manque d'oxygène, que Geir Jenssen a la force d'enregistrer pendant quelques minutes… [LD]

Rockerilla (Italy):

Machina (Poland):

Uncut (UK):

Ruis (Belgium):

RifRaf (France):

GoMag (Spain):

Orkus (Germany):

Trax (France):

Future Music (UK):

Trax (France):

Fear Drop (France):

Rock de Lux (Spain):

Testcard (Germany):

Dusted (USA):

The ascent to the peak of a gigantic mountain is something that few humans are able to experience; even those who manage to make a serious attempt are often turned back by the mental and physical demands that such a task entails. And while it in no way substitutes for actually undertaking such a climb, Geir Jenssen’s Cho Oyu 8210m is, in a small way, a chance for the listener to make the trip, at least in their mind, and while it can’t compete with the bone-chilling visuals of a professionally shot documentary, there’s something quite affecting about Jenssen’s field recordings, and the accompanying short diary that details the notable events of his journey to the top of the world’s sixth-highest peak.

Jenssen, a Norwegian known to ambient techno fans as Biosphere, traveled to Kathmandu on the first leg of his expedition, and began a 45-day saga that led him to the top of Cho Oyu, part of the Himalayas, on the Tibetan/Nepalese border. Traveling with a minidisk recorder and a microphone, Jenssen recorded his aural environment throughout the trip, with the addition, at times, of the sounds pulled in via his transistor radio. Cho Oyu 8210m is a document of his trip, presented in stages, from the trip between the town of Zhagmu and the border, to the different basecamps along the trek, to the literal apex of Jenssen’s trip at the titular altitude of 8,201 meters. While much of the journey took place on the cold face of the mountain and in seemingly spartan camps along the way, Jenssen was able to collect a surprisingly diverse collection of sounds, from the bells, whistles, and grunts of herders directing a yak caravan at the Paling campsite, to passing airplanes, neighboring birds, and the rather ominous wheeze of some of his fellow (and less fortunate) climbers on oxygen. Jenssen’s recording of the summit, mainly the sound of wind on a microphone (before what seems like more transistor transmission makes an entrance) is what one might expect from the entire disc, but Jenssen’s ear is able to find subtle sounds worth hearing along the trip, like an airplane far overhead, and his use of the shortwave brings fittingly fragile bits of music into the mix, bringing the recording (and Jenssen) back to earth in a sense, as such reminders of humanity were likely comforting diversions in the cold of the camps, especially as Jenssen climbed higher and human companionship grew scarce.

The short diary entries that accompany the disc and summarize Jenssen’s journey are powerful bits of first-person narrative; we, with Jenssen, watch as previously confident climbers succumb to the grueling conditions, and even the author’s ascent is no given as the altitude climbs. Those looking for a wholly straightforward set of field recordings won’t find them; instead, Jenssen’s aural documents are fraught with his fingerprints, and one is able to hear not just the sounds of the climb up the world’s sixth-highest peak, but the more human side of things, those sounds by which one might retain their sanity amidst the whirling winds and bone-numbing cold. Jenssen seems intent on finding life at each step of his trip, even if such life comes in the form of static-ridden radio waves, or a plane passing far too high to register as anything more than a dark blip on a white plain. Were Jenssen to simply present the sounds of wind, ice, and snow, Cho Oyu 8210m would have been the story of a mountain, but, instead, it’s the story of a man. [Adam Strohm]

Geiger (DK):

Fail (UK):

According to Jon Wozencroft, founder of Touch, Geir Jenssen (aka Norwegian ambient artist Biosphere) spent all the money that he got from the considerable sales of his 'Substrata' album to fund an expedition to Tibet. Specifically to climb Cho Oyu - the worlds sixth highest peak. Documenting this expedition in the form of a written diary and minidisc field recordings has resulted in what is possibly his best work yet.

And yes, the expected sounds of wind chill are there - a sonic reminder of the extreme nature of their environment. But also the idea of man's insignificance in such vast and isolated surroundings. The constant need to communicate represented by the sound of local people, 2-way radio chatter or tuning into the comforting but otherworldly ether of shortwave radio.

Cyclic rhythms drift in and out of the recordings and whilst they're subtle, they help retain a sense of narrative. Lavishly packaged and almost presented like a guidebook, the inclusion of a map suggests that you could re-create the journey yourself. The ultimate statement in audiotourism.

Ben Guiver (UK):

Beautiful mournful shimmering abstract sound painting courtesy of Christian Fennesz (electric guitar, electronics) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (piano). Recorded respectively in New York and Venice between 2004 and 2006, Fennesz and Sakamoto worked in geographic isolation from each other until meeting up for the final mixdown in NYC in February 2006.

My first thoughts were that it might have been better for the two collaborators to have worked together in the sense of being in the same room. I cannot base this on anything solid. Further thoughts were that there is a lot of space in these compositions, and that the geographic distances and the time frame might have helped the creative process, due to a delayed, fragmented kind of intimacy that could facilitate something more considered. This may be mere expiant verbiage, but it’s something about how they carefully fit together and around each other, like different elements in a visual composition, that provokes this thinking. I’m not saying that they couldn’t have managed to do this in the same room – how would I know anyway – but that I was just struck by the manner of the collaboration.

The music itself is delicate, sublime, Fennesz’s guitar ricocheting around softly, touching my mind in an abstract, soothing yet focussed way. Reminiscent of the way Robert Hampson’s sonic alchemy works, or Brian Eno and Robert Fripp on ‘Evening Star’, though with more electronic treatments: an enquiry to Christian's agent, Danilo Pellegrinelli, revealed that Christian uses guitars and a patch written in max/ msp, called "lloopp" which was designed by friend Claus Fillip: it’s quite well documented if you search for it in google.

It’s impressive how the respective aesthetic palettes combine together, complimenting each other without compromise, and it’s a real move on from his nonetheless brilliant ‘Venice’, particularly in terms of the spaciousness of the music: ‘Venice’ was closer in proximity and has a different production aesthetic. I keep thinking of abstract painting, like Victor Passmore, or Rothko. Maybe Rothko with little white lines dribbled playfully through some of his colour blocks. Talking of art, the sleeve art is handled beautifully by John Wozencroft. The cover is a landscape photograph, of an auburn sky beneath which is a winter treeline, parting slightly in the centre to reveal a small silhouette of a house: different forms combining to one image.

Groove (Sweden):

Skug (Austria):

Aufabwegen (Germany):

Biosphere "Dropsonde" reviews

failme.net (UK):

Having just had the pleasure of meeting the man himself when I was his DJ support at some industry shindig in Central London the other week. I'd decided to backtrack and revisit this, his last album for Touch. Those first few albums for R&S Records were deceptively dubbed 'ambient', but I'd found them to be anything but. More propulsive statements in isolated techno.

In short 'Dropsonde' is pretty amazing. The opening snow drift of 'Dissolving Clouds' lends an abstract, disengaged feel that's reminiscent of earlier work before the shuffling jazz drums of 'Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings' sets the tone for the rest of the album. And despite his meteorological association with winter, I found this to be a warm, accessible, beautifully presented and inviting piece of contemporary electronic music. [Sheikh Ahmed]

Sonomu (Sweden):

Dropsonde, the latest album by the most interesting and constantly evolving ambient artist of them all, announces itself with a three-note chime, not unlike the station identification used by the NBC television network. Biosphere then builds an entire track out of it by bending, stretching, delaying and quietly embroidering in between this trio of notes. It´s that simple, and yet not at all.

In this newest work, Biosphere returns to rhythmic music, but not of the sort that characterized his early, classic, techno-influenced albums, like Microgravity and Patashnik. Instead, he borrows an idea already broached by a handful of other artists - loaning rhythm tracks from "classic jazz" - and makes it his own by encompassing it in his signature otherwordly sound.

Appropriately enough, a "dropsonde" is a device which relays organic information to a computer. And is this not what Biosphere has been doing throughout his career, somehow relaying his impressions of the world of around us electronically?

All other considerations aside, the litmus test is how good the music is to listen to, and it is just gorgeous. "Warmed by the Drift" is one of the most assured and sensual pieces Biosphere has ever committed to record. Surrounding it are ten other pieces over a generous running time of seventy minutes, each one a small masterpiece, closing with the weightless drift of the elongated "People Are Friends".

A highlight of the year in music as well as a highlight in the œvre of Biosphere. And as always, housed in a typically beautifully crafted Touch digipak. [Stephen Fruitman]

Grooves (USA):

On his eighth album, Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen has done something not many would have expected of this ambient soundscape guru: He’s reinvented his sound. Over the course of a career now spanning well over a decade, Biosphere has dependably crafted minimalist, drifting music that pulses serenely on the edges of consciousness, incorporating rhythmic loops almost subliminally into his fog-like constructions. On albums like his epic Substrata and its sublime follow-up Shenzhou, which incorporated hazy orchestral samples into the mix, this formula worked beautifully. But on his last album, Autour de la Lune, Jenssen’s longtime formula abandoned him, and his subtle music drifted across the very fine line into boredom and emptiness.

Perhaps realizing this, Biosphere has made Dropsonde a very different effort indeed. In terms of surface sounds, this new disc is not an entirely drastic departure - there’s still the same attention to melodic loops and subtly layered sounds - but Jenssen has also incorporated more traditional rhythms that shake off the sleepy stupor of Autour. On “Birds Fly by Flapping Their Wings”, this new sound is shown off early as jazzy drums and cymbal splashes drive steadily atop the more familiar ethereal shimmer. “In Triple Time” explores similar ground, but even more exuberantly, with rapid drumming and upbeat melodic loops bubbling away in the background.

Elsewhere, things are more familiar, and not every track is dominated by Jenssen’s nods to rhythm. “From a Solid to a Liquid” is a lovely, haunting piece that builds a warm, slowly percolating melody atop the crackling hiss of field recordings, and it’s very much in the spirit of Substrata. On “Fall In Fall Out”, Jenssen strikes a middle ground between old and new for the album’s most compelling track. Crackling vinyl noises and digital glitches glide across a dim bed of chopped-up melodic fragments, with drums blending in more than they do on other tracks.

Dropsonde is an interesting, if not entirely successful, new direction for Biosphere. While Jenssen never really approaches the grandeur or elegance of his best work, it’s nevertheless encouraging to see this talented artist rethinking his approach. [Ed Howard]

All Music Guide (USA):

Geir Jenssen has moved toward something new on Dropsonde -- finally on CD after having been issued on LP some months previously. The CD version contains more music, about 25 minutes more. It's the sound and arrangement of this one that grabs the listener's attention quietly and gently, but nonetheless insistently. First, the definition that provides a telltale hint of the album's sound: a "dropsonde" is a radiosonde, dropped by parachute from an aircraft, to obtain soundings of the atmosphere below. The principle applies here in spades. The opening moments of Dropsonde's second track, "Birds Fly by Flapping Their Wings," are familiar to all of Jenssen's ambient music: a gray sonic wash of random elements that could be weather, water, etc., float in from the margins. A synth plays a quiet drone underneath for a few moments. About 40 seconds in, a drum loop that could be from Tony Williams on a Miles Davis record slips in. It's constant, it never moves, but it shimmers just right for the two-chord keyboard sequence to hover above while the other sounds and keyboards subtly move in ghostly fashion through the middle and underneath. The rhythm is hypnotic, but the piece is far from static -- it just slowly draws you in. There is emotion in it; it feels good; it feels meditative but alive. The piece gradually strips away everything but the sounds the listener heard coming in. The Miles reference isn't a mistake; in a number of tracks here, Jenssen touches upon the jazz musician's colors, modes, tensions, and edgelessness. It's the Miles of the second quintet and the Miles of In a Silent Way, where mode falls away and the smaller, repetitive vamp leads the way in. Check "Triple Time," "Fall in, Fall Out" (with its shimmering, authoritative military-style loop), and "Arafura," which is perhaps the finest articulation of Jenssen's method; it's spare and beautiful yet lush, with slowly unfolding mystery. Other tracks here, such as "Daphnis 26," offer a more forbidding ambient tone before the loops kick in and send the listener to an edge that never quite materializes. "Altostratus" and the opener, "Dissolving Clouds," are far more minimal, almost random in their computer tones and tunnels. The blissed-out "Sherbrooke" is a minor masterpiece, taking the ambient form into new directions with its utilization of sonic loops that become rhythmic statements under the radar. The album closes with the whispering quietude of "People Are Friendly," with keyboards swelling gently in hushed tones as voices appear and disappear through the mix for the entire ten and a half minutes before the album itself, like the track, disappears into silence, echoing memorably but indescribably in the mind of the listener. Jenssen only records when he has something new to say; he's said it here.

Urb (USA):

XLR8R (USA):

It was inevitable that Norwegian ambient minimalist Geir Jenssen (Biosphere) would explore the microfibers of jazz. After a dozen years of pioneering quiet, cold-filtered electronic music that invoked his arctic surroundings, Jenssen now applies his techniques to ECM-style sounds (think Keith Jarrett, Ketil Bjørnstad, etc.). Unlike his jazz-noodling countrymen, Jenssen sacrifies none of his contemplative ambient climates on 'dropsonde', his fifth release for England's austere [! - ed.] Touch label. Whereas Jenssen's attempt to "bliss out" classical music samples and loops on '02's 'Shenzhou' proved lacklustre, the jazz snippets on "In Triple Time" and "Fall In, Fall Out" add tension to a recording that will leave you mesmerized for repeated listenings. [Tomas Palermo]

Almost Cool (USA):

Geir Jenssen has been creating ambient music under the name Biosphere for over fifteen years now. He's released nearly twenty albums worth of material in that time, both on his own and in collaborations with everyone from the Higher Intelligence Agency (on the great Polar Frequencies) to Deathprod. In that time, his work has plumbed such a signature sound that he's been coined as having originated the "Arctic Sound." Over the course of the past couple years (especially on his releases for the Touch label), his work has reached a very high level of maturation and development. Maturation isn't probably quite the right word for someone who has been creating music for so long, but his past several releases have burst forth with such singular, refined (yet unique) visions that although the variety of his early work like Substrata is made to sound like sketches in places. His Shenzou is an all-enveloping soup of strings and murky nocturnal pulses while his most recent effort Autour De La Lune pushed off into deep space with icy tones and much less of a focus on melody. In that same way, Dropsonde finds Jenssen moving in another singular direction for the course of an entire album, and the result is again highly refined and enjoyable.

Jan Jelinek and other artists have been dipping their toes into jazz music for some time now, but you haven't heard anyone melt the pieces of the genre down to their base elements and reconstruct them in the way that Jenssen has here. After the short opening track of "Dissolving Clouds," the album moves forth with warm resonated melodies and shuffling snares in "Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings." "In Triple Time" again finds some jazz percussion loops shuffling while filtered and bent horns moan like whale calls in a bay.

I mentioned Jelinek above, and in places on Dropsonde, there's definitely a resemblance. "Fall In Fall Out" is all stuttering upright bass loops and hissy vinyl static while a martial snare keeps time. Most of the other times, though, the album reaches for those deep, dark places that Biosphere seems to know how to massage best. "Warmed By The Drift" calls to mind the title as layer upon layer of dense washes cover your ear like blowing snow while "Daphnis 26" chugs along with deep, rumbling beats and multiple layers of stuttering loops. As with his other excursions into different styles, Jenssen still maintains an almost signature sound on most of the tracks, and because of that very reason, you will definitely enjoy this album if you like his other work. I'll admit that I'm a sucker for this type of all-enveloping ambient music, and Jenssen seems to know just which buttons of mine to push.

rating: 7.75

LA Alternative (USA):

Back from his lonesome astral roaming on 2004’s Autour de la Lune, Norway’s Biosphere (AKA Geir Jenssen) seems still affected by that oxygen-deprived, zero gravity excursion. Although a version of it was already released on vinyl late last year, Dropsonde is now available on CD with new artwork (blurry sunspots in place of an ethereal cloud cover), six new songs and one track missing (the LP’s closing “In the Shape of a Flute”). The sine wave purism of Autour all spent, Jenssen throws in some uncharacteristically skittering breaks for the hi-speed hypnosis of “In Triple Time,” steely rhythms pulsing and recombining all over the iridescent “Arafura,” a hissy march holding the worn grooves of “Fall In, Fall Out” together and asthma-attack beats for “Daphnis 26.” But throughout Dropsonde, Jenssen remains blissed out and gone, less interested in thump and boom than texture and space; hewing to Brian Eno’s proclamation, back when the producer-performer was building an oeuvre of “ambient” long-players in the late 1970s, of an “environmental” music that is “to be experienced from the inside.” Dropsonde looks back to that analog moment of minimalist experimentation while also swimming ahead through glistening digital tides. “Sherbrooke” recalls the ecstatic fuzz and melodious glide of Loveless though played through shiny circuits instead of Marshall stacks while closer “People Are Friends” is a reminder that Jenssen was trafficking spectral tones and ghost voices long before Boards of Canada. A dizzying canvas of weightless loops, Dropsonde proves this veteran architect of twilight soundscapes remains a master of the machine-addled sublime.

Straight No Chaser (UK):

Word (UK):

Rock Sound (UK):

Future Music (UK):

Indieworkshop [USA]:

There are few musicians or composers that can hypnotize me the way that Geir Jenssen does. His subtle manipulations of patterns and soundwaves will have me staring at my speakers for hours on end. Almost instantaneously my eyes glaze over and I sink deep into my couch. The rhythmic pulses wash over me and surround my head like a warm scarf. Like the cover art, I’m aimlessly lost in a wispy sky. I’m back on the hill behind my boyhood home, looking up at the clouds while I waste my summers away. And while that all sounds over dramatic and more than a tad pretentious, if you have sat and listened to any one of Jenssen’s recordings as Biosphere those words will ring true. It’s sonic therapy; music’s answer to acupuncture and meditation.

Where his last album, Autour de la Lune, was mainly an exercise in the lower registers of the sonic realm, Dropsonde is brighter and more immediately engaging listen. Instead of feeling the steady grown and emptiness of space, Jenssen has tapped into a sound almost reminiscent of 90’s drone kings Seefeel. It’s very much more looped based, with almost every song focused around one centralized “riff” as it were. But it’s not just a slow manipulation of that one loop, he incorporates different textures and sounds (non-looped) through out, giving each track a personality and a degree of interest well above most drone based music.

The songs have that certain chilled out feel, but it’s not as desolate as Autour… I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this time around Jenssen has gone poppy, but the heavy weight of his past work has somewhat been lifted. It’s an album that begs for your attention while it floats you off into the sky. Everything just floats out of you, anger-tension-worry-energy, and you are left to bob up and down with the slow ebb and flow of his sonic waves. Trance has never been so interesting and peaceful. [Jake Haselman]

Intuitive Music (Spain):

In top 20 albums of 2005

In "Dropsonde" Biosphere is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread. A perfect invitation to new paths in electronic fusion music for the 21st century.

The Big Chill (UK):

Here comes another icebreaker from Geir Jenssen’s secret Tromso headquarters.

“A 'dropsonde' is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the host plane by radio. A parachute may slow the fall. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure”.

The notion of this small, compact and highly mobile unit of super quality technical kit listening to the environment, is oddly metaphorical for the Biosphere programme itself. Music that is as much about the world about us as it is about top end digital production layering. And as always, the fantastic quiddity of the work.

The six tracks on this album are currently only available in vinyl format; the CD will follow in November [now early 2006 - ed.]. The music represents a change from the impressionist washes of Shenzhou and Autour La Lune but it is unmistakeably the work of Biosphere. The territory is confirmed from the opening bars.

The widescreen aspect of the sound is firmly present but there is now a shuffling and insistent feel that has been absent of late and is much welcome on its return. The beat is back, as “Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings” heralds an urgent drum pattern under a floating sky that is echoed in the snare drum matrix that tags down “Fall in, Fall Out”. .

“Altostratus” is another floater, suspended in its own animation and creating the three dimensional space in which the Biosphere sound collage defines itself best. The stand out cut, however, is the majestic “Sherbrooke” which is a rising, building anthemic humdinger capturing light and space and adding almost Copeland like brush strokes which ever so faintly suggest “Shaker Leaps”.

As in the other cuts these sprung rhythms underpin and add to the mix bringing an element of excitement to the tracks and making this a landmark record for the artist. This is a wonderful piece of work and one of the most organic sounding electronic albums to emerge so far this year. [Alan James]

Milk Factory (UK):

Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen has spent the last fifteen years redefining the boundaries of electronic-based ambient music. Although his early solo work as Bleep was largely club orientated, his first output as Biosphere, the 1993 album Microgravity gave the first signs of Jenssen’s future musical direction. Since, his work has taken many shapes, from records and installations, often involving landscapes, to live performances. Since his 1997 album Substrata, Jenssen’s records have increasingly become more introverted and distant, with last year’s Autour De La Lune, a project based around the Jules Verne book of the same name, being by far his most austere work.

With Dropsonde, Jenssen returns to more hospitable territories. Abandoning drone-like moods for richer soundscapes, Jenssen applies jazz-infused beat patterns and tones over sumptuous loops. The album opens in typical Biosphere territory, with a dense formation reminiscent of Substrata or Polar Sequences, but, just a minute in, a relentless bip-bop-flavoured beat kicks this comfortable setting in the balls and sends the composition spinning in a totally new dimension. While this combination originally appears rather linear, soon, scattered over a surprisingly clear melodic line, incredibly fine sonic details materialise, each one impacting on the listener’s perception by adding some relief to the landscape.

Jenssen applies similar principles to four of the five remaining tracks, yet, he finds a different way to cast his sounds and shape the mood of a piece with each new track. Dropsonde is a far cry from the impressionist touches of Shenzou or the barren backdrops of Autour De La Lune. Here, Jenssen embraces rich sonic formations, engages groove and applies lavish brushes and textures all the way through. The only composition to deviate slightly from this template is the wonderfully smooth Altostratus. Here, Jenssen revives for a moment the mood of Patashnik by sending out electronic pulses above a sombre cloud of electronic soundwaves.

It is no coincidence that this particular album is originally being released on vinyl. While Jenssen’s various efforts of the last few years suited the clinical sound of CDs, Dropsonde gains in depth and texture with additional crackles and statics, while Jenssen’s sound palette also contributes to giving this album a raw organic feel. Adding to the mood is the album length itself. Clocking at just under forty minutes, Dropsonde is Biosphere’s briefest record, yet still allows for vast sonic spaces to develop fully while remaining entirely consistent, making it Jenssen’s most accomplished record to date. [4.8/5]

The Wire (UK):

Ananana [Portugal]:

Poucos como Geir Jenssen, aka Biosphere, foram tão bem sucedidos em continuar os preceitos do ambientalismo na electrónica, colocando em circulação obras que chegaram mesmo a ultrapassar em conseguimento e pertinência as que fundaram o género, da autoria do nem sempre feliz Brian Eno. Ainda que continuando a sua dedicação ao paisagismo sonoro, é outra, no entanto, a agenda do norueguês no novo “Dropsonde”. Depois do austero e brilhante “Autour de la Lune”, a sua homenagem ao romance de Jules Verne com o mesmo título, ei-lo que volta ao domínio do “beat” que marcou os seus inícios (“Cirque” é o disco com que inevitavelmente é comparado), com a inclusão de ritmos de bateria provenientes do jazz mais “groovy”. Ao que parece, trata-se de “samples” e todas as suspeitas levam a acreditar que as fontes foram os velhos LPs da Blue Note, mas nenhuma indicação é dada a esse respeito na ficha técnica. O simples facto é suficiente para alterar de modo substancial os parâmetros em que o projecto Biosphere se tem movimentado. Se de disco para disco o ouvimos em busca da máxima depuração, a introdução de elementos percussivos leva-o agora a optar por uma maior riqueza tanto ao nível das texturas como da própria composição. Daí até uma comparação com os modalismos eléctricos de Miles Davis ou Jon Hassell vai uma grande distância, mas a alusão tem sido feita por alguma crítica. De facto, nem Hassell nem muito menos Davis cuidaram de forma tão propositada o “mood” das suas respectivas músicas – nesse aspecto, uma boa parte das preocupações da fórmula Biosphere ainda vai para a sustentação de atmosferas e estados de espírito.

Biosphere "Warmed By The Drift" - And this, friends, is probably the best track of the bunch. No beats, no rhythm, no melody to speak of, just transcendent aural beauty. It's the kind of music that constructs soothing images in the mind's eye--which for me were of a deceptively desolate desert landscape at dawn, as viewed from the perspective of a driver who's been making an all-night trek. She's been witness to the gradual brightening of the sky, watching the shadows appear and slowly start to edge across the distant bluffs on the horizon. It's been a long and lonely stretch, with nothing on the radio but preachers and country music to keep her company, but the miles have ticked down to double digits and home (and breakfast) isn't far away now. The stillness and peace of the surrounding landscape as it warms to another day is awesome, overwhelming, stunningly beautiful.

Moebius Rex blog:

Biosphere "Warmed By The Drift" - And this, friends, is probably the best track of the bunch. No beats, no rhythm, no melody to speak of, just transcendent aural beauty. It's the kind of music that constructs soothing images in the mind's eye - which for me were of a deceptively desolate desert landscape at dawn, as viewed from the perspective of a driver who's been making an all-night trek. She's been witness to the gradual brightening of the sky, watching the shadows appear and slowly start to edge across the distant bluffs on the horizon. It's been a long and lonely stretch, with nothing on the radio but preachers and country music to keep her company, but the miles have ticked down to double digits and home (and breakfast) isn't far away now. The stillness and peace of the surrounding landscape as it warms to another day is awesome, overwhelming, stunningly beautiful.

It's funny that that should pop into my head, because Biosphere is usually associated with the frosty fjords and snowbound forests of Norway, where Geir Jennsson (the man behind the music) makes his home. But my mind works from its own experience: I've not logged much time in the permafrosted parts of the world, but I did spend formative years of my life in southwestern Arizona, and, later, made several drives through Nevada and down I-5 in California. You make do with what you have. The lovely thing about Dropsonde, Biosphere's forthcoming CD release, is that it works with you to construct your own vision of peace and tranquility. Very highly recommended, especially for those of you dealing with stressful times (ah, but who isn't?).

plan b (UK):

Echoes Online (Germany):

Mit dem gut zugänglichen 94er Ambientwerk „Patashnik“ und dem darauf enthaltenen Hit „Novelty Waves“ hatte die Musik von Geir Jensen (Biosphere) zuletzt nur noch ganz wenig bis gar nichts zu tun. Entsprechend selten höre ich z. B. auch das letzte Album „Autour de la Lune“. Das soll nicht heißen, dass ich dieses Werk nicht sonderlich mag, doch irgendwie führt mich meine Stimmung nur selten an einen Platz, der sich anfühlt, wie ein Spaziergang tief unten im einsamen Ozean - einem Ort, den die Sonnenstrahlen nicht mehr erreichen. Weniger blumig formuliert, fehlt mir an den „normalen“ Tagen womöglich einfach die Ruhe, sich dieser monoton anmutenden Musik hinzugeben. Das neue und wieder auf Touch erscheinende Album „Dropsonde“ enthält zwar auch die eher experimentellen Klänge der letzten Arbeiten, leugnet aber zudem nicht die musikalischen Anfänge aus dem Biosphere-Katalog. Mit „Dropsonde“ schlägt Jensen nun eine Brücke zwischen diesen beiden Polen. Während sich auf einem Titel wie „From A Solid To A Liquid“ eine stille Atmosphäre ausbreiten darf, treiben im Jazz geerdete Percussions Stücke wie „Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings“ und „Arafura“ voran. Warm und poppig anmutende Soundflächen ergänzen diesmal wieder die tief frequenten und druckvollen Bässe. Geir Jensen setzt seine musikalischen Ausdrucksformen wohlbedacht ein und vermengt sie zu einem abwechslungsreichen Gesamtwerk. Vielleicht wirkt „Dropsonde“ deshalb für mich sogar wie ein Best-Of-Album von Biosphere. Zum Kauf dieses Albums wird also dringend geraten. Nicht nur wegen des gewohnt tollen Cover-Artworks von Jon Wozencroft.

Benzinemag (France):

Pour ceux qui s’intéressent depuis plusieurs années aux musiques électroniques, et notamment à celles qui vont un peu plus loin que les autres en terme de personnalité et d’originalité, nul doute que le nom de Biosphere a une signification toute particulière. Depuis 1990, le norvégien Geir Jenssen, à la tête du projet, s’ingénie à créer des musiques électroniques ambient, follement envoûtantes et très évocatrices, composées la plupart du temps de boucles superposées et arrangées de telle manière à produire sur l’auditeur une sorte d’hypnose, de doux envoûtement.

Ici l’on découvre une nouvelle facette du talent de ce producteur qui nous convie une fois encore dans son immense espace sonore, dans sa (Bio)sphere musicale, de laquelle se dégagent de bien belles choses ; à commencer par ces ambiances tranquilles très réussies que l’on découvre au fil des titres.

Et sans doute depuis Cinematic Orchestra, les boucles jazz n’avaient pas tourné aussi bien qu’ici. Superposées à des nappes, à des bruits divers évoquant les trains, les voyages, l’espace, etc, ces boucles se révèlent très cuivrées (surtout sur les titres Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings In, Triple Time et Fall In Fall Out) et donnent une chaleur étonnante à un ensemble qui reste pourtant dans l’ensemble très froid… un peu comme si une boite de jazz avait ouvert ses portes sur la banquise.

Malgré tout, aussi dépouillés soient-il, ces titres n’en restent pas moins saisissants de beauté et de force. Et derrière cette apparente austérité, ce coté clinique indéniable, se cache une richesse musicale qu’il ne faudrait tout de même pas tarder à découvrir.

A l’origine paru uniquement en vinyle, Dropsonde est réédité au format cd avec 6 titres en plus. [Richard Benoît]

ondefix.net (France):

Pour ceux qui s’intéressent depuis plusieurs années aux musiques électroniques, et notamment à celles qui vont un peu plus loin que les autres en terme de personnalité et d’originalité, nul doute que le nom de Biosphere a une signification toute particulière. Depuis 1990, le norvégien Geir Jenssen, à la tête du projet, s’ingénie à créer des musiques électroniques ambient, follement envoûtantes et très évocatrices, composées la plupart du temps de boucles superposées et arrangées de telle manière à produire sur l’auditeur une sorte d’hypnose, de doux envoûtement.

Ici l’on découvre une nouvelle facette du talent de ce producteur qui nous convie une fois encore dans son immense espace sonore, dans sa (Bio)sphere musicale, de laquelle se dégagent de bien belles choses ; à commencer par ces ambiances tranquilles très réussies que l’on découvre au fil des titres.

Et sans doute depuis Cinematic Orchestra, les boucles jazz n’avaient pas tourné aussi bien qu’ici. Superposées à des nappes, à des bruits divers évoquant les trains, les voyages, l’espace, etc, ces boucles se révèlent très cuivrées (surtout sur les titres Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings In, Triple Time et Fall In Fall Out) et donnent une chaleur étonnante à un ensemble qui reste pourtant dans l’ensemble très froid… un peu comme si une boite de jazz avait ouvert ses portes sur la banquise.

Malgré tout, aussi dépouillés soient-il, ces titres n’en restent pas moins saisissants de beauté et de force. Et derrière cette apparente austérité, ce coté clinique indéniable, se cache une richesse musicale qu’il ne faudrait tout de même pas tarder à découvrir.

A l’origine paru uniquement en vinyle, Dropsonde est réédité au format cd avec 6 titres en plus. (9.0) [Richard Benoît]

iDJ (UK):

de:bug (Germany):

Fareastudio (USA):

Before starting his musical career, Japanese noise pioneer KK Null studied the jarring dance theatre known as Butoh. Characterized by their white-painted bodies and grotesque beauty, Butoh dancers are said to concentrate intently on an internal image and move in response to this inner vision. Audiences are not expected to know what the dancer is seeing, but to construct their own story for the dance.

Null's recent collaboration with Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire) and z'ev has a similar Rorschach effect. Like Toshiya Tsunoda's latest, Number One juxtaposes the natural and synthetic. But while Tsunoda practices minimalism, this trio creates thick soundscapes of crickets, thunder, elephants and manmade sounds that hum, grind and resonate. This is sound at its most visual, and every pair of ears will see something different. [Mack Hagoo]

PROFI (Germany):

Music Magazine (Japan):

Straight No Chaser (UK):

Laut (Germany):

Es gibt sie, die Alben, in deren Sound man einfach nur eintauchen möchte. Getragen von angenehmen Klängen und Effekten nahe am geräuschlichen Nichts, bieten sie einem die Möglichkeit, in ein Paralleluniversum einzusteigen, das sich vom hektischen Wumms und der Aufgeregtheit des medialen Alltags abhebt. Nichts schreit einem ins Gesicht, da ist genügend Raum, um die eigenen Gedanken im Gleichklang mit der Musik schweben zu lassen.
Nein, hier geht es nicht um drogengeschwängerte Sounds vom Mars, die erst mittels Pilz- oder LSD-Flash ihre Wirkung entfalten. Geir Jenssen aka Biospere fungiert als Geburtshelfer für Kollagen aus seinem Klanglabor, die scheinbar wie von selbst den Weg in die Welt finden. Anders sind die wunderbaren tonalen Skulpturen kaum zu erklären.

Alles beginnt mit einer simplen Tonfolge, die auch eine Durchsage auf einem Bahnsteig ankündigen könnte. Begleitet von einem merkwürdigen Hintergrundrauschen flirren viereinhalb Minuten rhythmisch unregelmäßig Töne hin und her. Bis dann mit "Dissolving Clouds" tatsächlich der Himmel aufzieht und der Blick wieder klarer wird. Hier kommt wieder der erwähnte Bahnsteig in den Sinn, denn auf einmal zieht das Tempo sanft an. Eine Geräuschkulisse wie ein fahrender Zug rattert voran, Keyboardflächen (die auch als solche erkennbar sind) greifen sich ihren Raum, und auf einmal ist er da, der Jazz. Sanft hoppelnde Hihat-Sounds und Besen-Samples sind mit das Letzte, was man von einer Biosphere-Platte erwarten konnte, nach all den Jahren, in denen Jenssen sanft dem vertonten Nichts entgegen schwebte.

Und dann das. Aber egal, da haben wir sie wieder, diese nordische Kühle, gepaart mit organischer, menschlicher Wärme. Das erzeugt eine Stimmung, gerade so, als genieße man in einer absolut lebensfeindlichen, eisigen Umgebung mit seinem besten Freund ein Gläschen Rotwein, in die wärmsten Pullis gemümmelt, die man sich nur vorstellen kann. Den stringenten Faden führt Jenssen weiter, steigert die Geschwindigkeit nochmals, flankiert von allerlei verfremdeten Sprachsamples. Die Strömung, die sein Sound hinterlässt, wärmt in der Tat so, wie es der Trackname verlauten lässt.

Im Vergleich zu den manchmal bedrückenden, tiefschwarzen Sound-Sphären der früheren Biosphere-Ära ("Microgravity", "Patashnik"), klingt "Dropsonde" an manchen stellen richtiggehend heiter. Der Frühling kann kommen, selbst wenn das Album auf Vinyl schon einige Monate auf dem Buckel hat. Die Fraktion der CD-Hörer darf sich das neueste Opus Dei aus dem Hause Jenssen ganz unbesorgt in den Player schieben und zigmal wieder von vorne hören. Es gibt genug zu entdecken.

Ikonenmagazine (Germany):

Der norwegische Musiker Geir Jenssen hat mit seinem Projekt Biosphere seit Jahren eine eigene Liga der Ambientmusik eröffnet: Immer weiter treibt er seine mitunter kühlen, düsteren, aber stets originellen Erkundungen der nördlichen Landschaft. "Dropsonde" - benannt nach Wettersonden, die in der äußeren Hemisphäre abgeworfen werden - erringt mit leichter Hand jazzige Sphären, ohne den faszinierenden Soundscape-Charakter zu verraten, der Stücke wie"Novelty Waves" zu weltweiten Hits werden ließ. Bediente sich Jenssen früher oft technoider Strukturen, vertraut er seit "Substrata" auch auf minimalistische Flächen, die sich nur langsam aus der Firnis lösen.

Anders als seine Kollegen vom erdigen Darkambient-Fach tendieren die Biosphere-Kompositionen nicht zur Erstarrung. Sie befreien sich schichtweise von ihrer Kruste, um in luftigere Höhen aufzubrechen, zu denen sie von flirrenden Miles-Davis-Beats getragen werden. Doch hinter dieser Leichtigkeit lauert erneut das Unbekannte. Erst mehrere Dimensionen müssen erschlossen werden, um die volle Tiefe dieses Werkes zu offenbaren. Stimmen wurden laut, die hier das reifste und aufregendste Album von Biosphere vermuten, und tatsächlich suchen die 11 kubistischen Klangskulpturen ihresgleichen - "Dropsonde" lullt ein, spornt an, irritiert und verstört, wie man es von einer Ambientsinfonie nur erwarten kann. Die Titel bleiben dabei assoziativ und rätselhaft: "Warmed by the Drift", "From a Solid to a Liquid", "Daphnis 26", "Sheerbroke" usw. Die stilvolle Umschlaggestaltung bietet dazu Detailaufnahmen von Blüten in verfremdeten Farben.

Wer glaubt, Ambientmusik habe mit Brian Eno bereits vor 20 Jahren ihre Möglichkeiten erschöpft, sollte sich dringend "Dropsonde" besorgen, ein eigenes Kapitel in der Geschichte des Klangkunstprojekts Biosphere wie auch der ambienten elektronischen Musik allgemein - ein Meisterwerk. [Marcus Stiglegger]

Indieworkshop (USA):

It might be a bad idea to release two different versions of the same album on two different formats (and only a few months apart) for most artists, but something tells me that fans of Biosphere won't care. Geir Jenssen, the Norwegian father of ambient techno, has the pull and the following to do just that. While the LP for Dropsonde came out late last year, it boasted a mere six tracks of his masterful sonic waves. And while it's a great LP, you can never have enough of these hypnotic loops at your disposal. So adding five more tracks, the CD version has enough drone to put you into a comfortable two week coma.

The five extra tracks go a long way to creating a totally different feel for this alternative version to the LP. But even with the new songs and longer format, it's hard for me to come up with a new angle to take on this release. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great and might even be of a more complete listen than the LP version. But I feel like I've said all that I need to say when I tackled the LP.

But maybe you missed my review earlier this year, so lets recap. Dropsonde is the aural equivalent to floating in a sensory deprivation tank. The music is so bleak and minimal that when it starts you could easily miss that it was playing at all. But slowly it seeps into you, it quietly creeps under your skin. The slightly altering loops will dig deep into your vital organs and start tugging ever so softly at your mind. It happens so subtly that you don't even realize it, but you've become completely engulfed in Jenssen's world. Your eyes will softly roll into the back of your head and astral projection won't seem like a far-fetched idea.

With almost twice the amount of tracks, and over twice the length, the CD version of Dropsonde might even be a better listening experience than the LP. Down tempo DJ's have probably bought up all the LP versions, so I'm guessing the CD version might be the only one you will be able to find these days. But if you are into chilling out and putting on something to zone out to you won't regret picking this up for one minute. [Jake Haselman]

Tinymixtapes (USA):

Though it is being touted as an effort to incorporate elements of modal jazz with the signature Biosphere "arctic sound," Dropsonde, put simply, is merely another strong release from Norway's Geir Jenssen and is very much in the same vein as previous releases, albeit with jazzier, slightly noirish overtones. Much of the album, which was recently issued on CD after having been previously released on vinyl, has a vaguely jazz-tinged flavor, but beneath its downtempo trappings, Dropsonde shows Biosphere remaining close to its ambient techno roots—perhaps even making something of a return to them after the starkness and minimalist austerity of recent Biosphere efforts.

The first half of the album alternates between beatless, Eno-esque ambience and evocative, jazzier soundscapes featuring beats that reveal their vinyl source material. Much of Dropsonde sounds influenced, to some degree, by the Radiohead b-sides of the Amnesiac era. Like the Radiohead tracks, Dropsonde shows Jenssen not so much attempting to create an album of modal jazz per se, but rather utilizing jazz elements to infuse these tracks with a moody, smoky atmosphere. Dropsonde, like previous Biosphere releases, is certainly characteristic of the artist's signature downbeat and trancelike sound, but the addition of sampled live instrumentation and gentle, brushed drum loops adds a warm, autumnal hue to these pieces. Like his peers Thomas Köner and Jan Jelinek, Jenssen makes liberal use of needle noise and vinyl static to add a pleasant warmth to the proceedings that helps to offset their frigid, wintry chill.

Biosphere, like Brian Eno, has been a pioneer in the genre of electronic ambient music. Additionally, like Eno, Jenssen is a master of using music of a frequently quiet and unobtrusive nature to generate tension and an often palpable mood. Aside from his releases under the Biosphere moniker, Jenssen is an experienced soundtrack composer, having composed the haunting, icy score to the original 1997 Norwegian film Insomnia. Dropsonde, though perhaps closest, structurally, to the 2000 Biosphere release Cirque, is the artist's most melodic release to date. Conspicuously moving away from the glacial drones and minimalist dub that was featured so prominently on previous Biosphere releases, Dropsonde shows Jenssen putting his compositional skills to better use, as well as utilizing a richer sonic palette than that to which we are accustomed. The album is an accessible and beautifully-produced recording that shows what Geir Jenssen is capable of when he allows his Biosphere project to thaw out just a little.

D-Side (France):

The Sunday Times (UK):

The List (UK):

Foxydigitalis (USA):

Biosphere is already a legend in the genre of ambient techno/electronica and his numerous albums are considered to be genre-defining by many. Still, his music has never sounded overly exciting to me and that hasn´t changed with the release of “Dropsonde.” After its initial LP-only release, it is now available on CD in the typical impeccable Touch design with photos by Jon Wozencroft and some extra tracks.

Because Geir Jenssen a.k.a. Bioshphere lives in the far north of Norway, “arctic” is a standard synonym to describe his music. In comparison to some of his previous work, “Dropsonde” is much warmer in feel though. The introductory “Dissolving Clouds” marks a hopeful beginning of the disc with its shimmering sine wave sounds. What follows is a variety of two different types of tracks. Several tunes combine sampled jazz beats with dancing hi-hats with the standard digital arsenal of looped organs, strings, etc. These tracks are not unpleasant at all, but they have been heard in one or the other variation many times over the last seven or eight years. Also, tracks like “Fall In Fall Out” or “Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings” show such little variation that they get boring quickly. In a way they sound like sketches streched to fit the standard “five minutes plus” format of ambient techno. Only on “Daphnis 26”, Biosphere shows his real capabilites in the above described first category of tunes on this disc. The drum samples are more tribal and the track is developing in an energetic way.

Apart from “Daphnis 26”, beatless songs are Jenssen´s real strength. The slowly morphing “From a Solid to a Liquid” is a beautiful and soothing piece of dreamy ambience. So are “Warmed By the Drift” and “People Are Friends”, which feature the more somber aura, Biosphere is known for. Biosphere fans – and I know there a lot of them out there – will be happy to hear that the CD version is half an hour longer than the LP version. For me though, 70 minutes are just too long when there are only four or five tracks that are interesting enough to disrupt me from my daily ongoings. [Stephan Bauer]

Ikonen (Germany):

Der norwegische Musiker Geir Jenssen hat mit seinem Projekt Biosphere seit Jahren eine eigene Liga der Ambientmusik eröffnet: Immer weiter treibt er seine mitunter kühlen, düsteren, aber stets originellen Erkundungen der nördlichen Landschaft. "Dropsonde" - benannt nach Wettersonden, die in der äußeren Hemisphäre abgeworfen werden - erringt mit leichter Hand jazzige Sphären, ohne den faszinierenden Soundscape-Charakter zu verraten, der Stücke wie"Novelty Waves" zu weltweiten Hits werden ließ. Bediente sich Jenssen früher oft technoider Strukturen, vertraut er seit "Substrata" auch auf minimalistische Flächen, die sich nur langsam aus der Firnis lösen.

Anders als seine Kollegen vom erdigen Darkambient-Fach tendieren die Biosphere-Kompositionen nicht zur Erstarrung. Sie befreien sich schichtweise von ihrer Kruste, um in luftigere Höhen aufzubrechen, zu denen sie von flirrenden Miles-Davis-Beats getragen werden. Doch hinter dieser Leichtigkeit lauert erneut das Unbekannte. Erst mehrere Dimensionen müssen erschlossen werden, um die volle Tiefe dieses Werkes zu offenbaren. Stimmen wurden laut, die hier das reifste und aufregendste Album von Biosphere vermuten, und tatsächlich suchen die 11 kubistischen Klangskulpturen ihresgleichen - "Dropsonde" lullt ein, spornt an, irritiert und verstört, wie man es von einer Ambientsinfonie nur erwarten kann. Die Titel bleiben dabei assoziativ und rätselhaft: "Warmed by the Drift", "From a Solid to a Liquid", "Daphnis 26", "Sheerbroke" usw. Die stilvolle Umschlaggestaltung bietet dazu Detailaufnahmen von Blüten in verfremdeten Farben.

Wer glaubt, Ambientmusik habe mit Brian Eno bereits vor 20 Jahren ihre Möglichkeiten erschöpft, sollte sich dringend "Dropsonde" besorgen, ein eigenes Kapitel in der Geschichte des Klangkunstprojekts Biosphere wie auch der ambienten elektronischen Musik allgemein - ein Meisterwerk. [Marcus Stiglegger]

Dusted (USA):

At work above the Artic Circle for around 15 years, Biosphere's last few records have shown Norwegian Geir Jenssen using subtle conceptual tweaks to build upon the landmark gossamer style he came close to perfecting with 1997’s Substrata. While Shenzou's Debussy reworkings and Autour de la Lune's mining of a French radio play based on Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune provided welcome abstractions, there's a certain unwanted heavy-hand that settles over Dropsonde's approach of modal jazz structures and appended percussion. Whereas Jenssen had previously allowed his instrumental loops, samples and gauzy textures to traffic in hints and innuendos, here they become overstated and bluntly obvious. Melody is the focus, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, this emphasis forces the loss of some of the brilliant sheen that made his other records so intoxicating.

Originally released as a six-song LP, the CD version of Dropsonde doubles the length of the vinyl and still manages to omit one track from the original release. The major problem here comes from the added percussion. While not affixed to every track, Jenssen's sampled drum loops sound as if they were stapled to his pieces as a mere afterthought, and generally his rhythmic counterpoints lack variation throughout the course of his tracks. Previously cadences were implied, but here they come front and center. This isn't really bad, per se, and when the titular signature kicks on "In Triple Time," the effect is actually quite sublime. But there wasn’t much of a need to muddy up the birdsong recordings on "Birds Fly by Flapping Their Wings" with generic drum patterns when his typical exegesis would have done just fine. Likewise, the pronounced blurps of "Altostratus" chafe a bit too much, while the harder loop of "Sherbrooke" sounds like an unwelcome return to the click + cut aesthetic.

There are patches of brilliance throughout Dropsonde, however, even with the added skins. "Daphnis 26" approaches Jan Jelinek-worthy loops by holding the percussive patterns at bay – they threaten to pulse hard, but Jenssen always manages to pull back on the reins. For those seeking a return to his earlier highlights, "From a Solid to a Liquid" capably soundtracks transference to melodic whisps, while "Warmed by the Drift" glacially stretches string tones to an effect that almost sounds like bowed ice blocks.

Ultimately, it would be horribly unfair to fault Geir Jenssen for attempting to reach outside of his soundworld in a manner such as this. After all, a lack of variation has undone quite a few musicians who haven't been going for nearly as long. However, much of the Biosphere catalogue earned repeated spins because multiple listens were necessary to fully grasp the intricacies of Jenssen's work. Here, the emphasis on modal structures reveals too much too quickly, and the loss of the subtle makes the album just a bit forgettable. Still, it shows that Geir has plenty of tricks up his sleeve even after a decade and a half of work. Whatever comes next will undoubtedly still be worth a listen. [Michael Crumsho]

Signal To Noise (USA):

BerlinXS (Germany):

Spex (Germany):

Westzeit (Germany):

His Voice (CZ)::

Classic FM (UK):

#Welcome to the Chiller Cabinet Playlist Email#

EVERY SATURDAY & SUNDAY 2 - 4 am

1 0 0 ~ 1 0 2 fm

A two hour mix of ambience, movies, & minimalism.

---------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY 8 APRIL
FEATURED ALBUM - DROPSONDE
BIOSPHERE is Norwegian composer and performer Geir Jenssen. You may
recognise his work without knowing it, so frequently does it crop up on
TV trailers and idents. As with all of the BIOSPHERE albums, the music
draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts
on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a
haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music.

We thought it was worth mentioning BIOSPHERE is touring UK Picture
Houses from the 19th to the 23rd April (www.picturehouses.co.uk)

Wednesday 19th April, LONDON, Gate Cinema (Notting Hill) Thursday 20th
April, LIVERPOOL, Picturehouse at FACT Friday 21st April, LONDON,
Greenwich Picture House Saturday 22nd April, LONDON, Ritzy (Brixton)
Sunday 23rd April, BRIGHTON, Duke Of Yorks Picturehouse

|1|Biosphere|Altostratus|5:11|
|2|Chanticleer|Grace to you|5:43|
|3|Boards of Canada|Tears from the Compound Eye|4:03|
|4|Colleen|the happy sea|3:00|
|5|David Gordon / Henry Purcell|Hocus Pocus|2:44|
|6|Biosphere|From a solid to a liquid|5:19|
|7|King Creosote|KC Vice Like Gist Of It - Jon Hopkins
Dub Remix|4:22|
|8|Amon Tobin|Theme from Battery|4:28|
|9|Thomas Newman|Permission to Fire|4:54|
|10|Biosphere|Dissolving Clouds|4:28|
|11|Ted Barnes|In the Shed|4:30|
|12|David Gordon / Henry Purcell|Music for a While|3:52|
|13|Colleen|Everyone Alive Wants Answers|3:27|
|14|ISAN|Gymnopedie 2|1:57|
|15|Iris Garrelfs|encounter 7|4:49|

HOUR 2

|16|Arvo Part|Fur Alina|10:36|
|17|Alex Heffes & Kawesa|The Question|3:25|
|18|Chanticleer|In Winter's Keeping|8:44|
|19|Angelo Badalamenti|Country Theme|3:37|
|20|Aoki Takamasa/Tujiko Noriko|fly2|2:51|
|21|Biosphere|People are Friends|10:39|
|22|Colleen|bubbles which on the water swim|3:11|
|23|John Barry|Okay Dad; Mother Shut Up!|2:52|
|24|Colleen|the golden morning breaks|5:22|
|25|Biosphere|Warmed by the drift|6:50|

Homework:
www.biosphere.no
myspace.com/biospheregeirjenssen
www.touchmusic.org.uk

Beam Me Up (DE):

infratunes.com (France):

La musique de Geir Jenssen s’est toujours caractérisée par une relation de transparence absolue entre le paysage et les constructions sonores. C’est justement cette transparence, cette limpidité qui a permis à cette musique d’échapper à l’écueil de la bande-son pour film imaginaire ou paysage boréal – contrairement aux clichés les plus tenaces qui courent sur Biosphere. Ici une batterie récurrente et particulièrement attachées aux rythmes ternaires et aux cymbales prodigue quelque ouverture vers une rythmique jazz, un swing discret.

Oui, la musique de Biosphere est immersive mais elle n’est ni visuelle, ni descriptive. Elle est plutôt le vecteur souple d’atmosphères qui ne sauraient exister autrement que sous la forme très particulière de cette musique que l’on qualifiera d’ambient par facilité, mais qui est toujours en excès face à ce qu’entend proposer l’ambient.

Si elle doit être rattachée à une expérience concrète de l’espace, la musique de Biosphere porte la trace des lieux où elle est née plus qu’elle n’est transcription musicale de ces lieux. Cette distinction est importante, qui rappelle que la musique n’est pas secondaire, comme un pont vers l’image, mais qu’elle est ici toujours première et dernière.

Les titres, qui font office de notes de pochette et d’intention tant ils sont clairs, semblent à chaque fois décrire un phénomène atmosphérique ou naturel – moins parce qu’il a été observé que parce que la musique est née à l’intérieur de celui-ci. La musique de Biosphere est ainsi faite qu’elle porte toujours une attention infinie à ces conditions de possibilité, à l’espace, à la durée, au lieu et au temps qui la voient naître. Et si les compositions de Dropsonde ne portent pas toujours la singularité des productions précédentes de Biosphere, si leur pouvoir d’envoûtement leur fait parfois défaut, soyons certains au moins que cet album poursuit l’art unique que s’est inventé Geir Jenssen. [Johnny One Shot]

Orkus (DE):

Bad Alchemy (DE):

Wie Ambient und Environmental Music die Untiefen bloßer New-Age-Beschallung umschiffen kann, zeigte der Norweger Geir Jenssen immer wieder durch die subtile ‚nordische‘ Atmosphäre seiner Klangbilder mit ihrer Anmutung von Schnee, Eis und dünn besiedelten Landstrichen, die sich unter der Mitternachtssonne nicht mehr sehr unterscheiden von den kalten, sternklaren Leer- und Dunkelräumen hinter dem Mond, zu dem er mit Autour de la Lune gereist war. Hier zieht er bei ‚Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings‘ ganz andere Register mit einem rhythmischen Swing aus jazzigen Loops. Hihattickling, Kontrabass und ein Keyboardriff kreisen in sich selbst und das gibt auch bei ‚In Triple Time‘ und ‚Arafura‘ einen je monoton mäandernden, aber doch in sich sanft bebenden Kammerflimmer-Kollektief-Touch, zu dem manchmal Hunde bellen, was den Unterschied von Drinnen und Draußen noch unterstreicht. Die Natur bleibt als Horizont präsent - ‚Dissolving Clouds‘, ‚Warmed by the Drift‘ -, aber die Klänge suchen einen Weg, Festes zu schmelzen (‚From a Solid to a Liquid‘) und Wärme auszustrahlen. Die Musik bohrt wie eine Wettersonde durch die Schichten des Gemüts und misst unterwegs die Temperatur. Musik, so cool wie schwarzer Samt, die aber doch einen Hang zu Zwielicht und Tristesse nicht ganz verleugnen kann, zu halbdämmrigen Gedankenfluchten, aus denen man durch den Marschtrommelloop und Herzschlagbass von ‚Fall in Fall out‘ genötigt wird, den Blick wieder zu heben und um sich zu schauen, während ‚Daphnis 26‘ den Puls mit einem federnden und dann sogar fiebrig anziehenden Unterton noch weiter beschleunigt. ‚Altostratus‘ bringt ein vertikales Moment ins Spiel, ein melodiöses Funksignal mit gemütlichem SF-Anstrich, und ‚Sherbrooke‘ einen automatenhaften Headbangerbeat zu wolkig geflocktem Keyboardgekräußel. Das finale ‚People Are Friends‘ (husthust - Entschuldigung) nimmt sich noch einmal gut 10 Minuten Zeit, um vor dunkel dröhnendem Hintergrund wie blind nach einer Melodie zu tasten, während eine Frauenstimme geisterhaft wispert: „I want to stay.“ [Rigobert Dittmann]

Groove (DE):

Music Scan (DE):

Eine neues Biosphere Album bringt aufgrund der grazilen Schönheit eines Großteils der Vorgänger eine gewisse Erwartungshaltung mit sich. Diese kann Geir Jenssen jedoch auch auf “Dropsonde" wieder ganz mühelos entkräften, denn nach dem etwas wirren und bemüht eklektizistischen “Autour De La Lune" besinnt man sich wieder auf die minimalistischen Stärken, die Alben wie “Microgravity" oder “Substrata" zu unentbehrlichen Bestandteilen einer jeden Electronica und Ambient Sammlung gemacht haben. Die leidige und auch reichlich hilflosen Bezüge zum Wohnort Jenssens 500 km nördlich des Polarkreises müssen hier nicht mehr in die Deutung der Musik einbezogen werden, denn diese steht seit vielen Jahren für sich, ohne auf regionale oder geographische Verortungen bauen zu müssen. Auf “Dropsonde" verbindet sich eine schier unermüdlicher Puls mit fein flirrenden Harmonien und hauchdünnen musikalischen Schichtungen, die nur auf den ersten Blick stillzustehen scheinen, denn wenn man genauer hinhört, ist hier fast alles ständig in Bewegung. Diese Bewegungen sind bei Biosphere jedoch subtil, ja fast minimal und deshalb kann es auch schon mal etwas länger dauern, bis sich ein Track zu etwas entwickelt, das man mit gutem gewissen auch so nennen kann. Die dichten Atmosphären sind sowohl beruhigend und warm als auch bedrohlich und düster und können ganz unvermittelt und ohne irgendwelche großen Gesten ins Gegenteil umschlagen. Dieses gegenseitige Wechselspiel oder Abhängigkeitsverhältnis von Leichtigkeit und Schwere, und die Art wie Geir Jenssen damit umgeht, ist das eigentlich Faszinierende an Biosphere, denn kaum jemand sonst versteht es, einen so spannenden und geschmackvollen Mittelweg zwischen diesen Extremen zu gehen. Ich bin sicher, wir werden noch mehr zu hören bekommen und darauf darf man sich schon jetzt freuen. 8.5/10 [Matthias]

solenoide (France):

Voilà plus de 15 ans que Geir Jennsen arpente les vallées froides de l’ambient electronica. Quinze années d’une emprise discrète sur le pôle le plus avancé des musiques électro-climatiques. Un bail plutôt long - à l’échelle de la technosphère – à l’égard duquel cet album tient lieu d’accord tacite de renouvellement.

Flirtant d'abord avec les ambitions du dancefloor mental avant de se soumettre aux exigences de l’art contemporain, Biosphere a toujours su évoluer par paliers sans jamais nier sa fascination pour l’environnement polaire, les paysages nocturnes ou encore l’observation céleste. C’est dans ce dernier vivier thématique, mais aussi sous la forme d’un retour vers des territoires sonores plus hospitaliers, qu’opère "Dropsonde". Un album basé sur la superposition de boucles, de nappes et autres tintements sophistiqués, qui s’enrichit sur quelques titres de samples à connotation jazz marquant une parenté avec les montages cyberjazz du Innerzone Orchestra (de Carl Craig). Possible synthèse des travaux antérieurs de Biosphere, "Dropsonde" trouve le point d’équilibre et de tension idéal entre nébulosité froide et chaleur anxieuse. Constellés de détails riches et évocateurs, associant matériaux organiques et traitements cliniques, les 11 pièces de ce disque dérivent dans notre imaginaire comme autant de sondes en apesanteur, autant de sondes audio-numériques que les amateurs de minimalisme extatique s’approprieront avec bonheur.

Au bout du compte, "Dropsonde" se révèle être l’album le plus entêtant de Biosphere, celui qui relie magistralement les notions d’abstraction et de contemplation. Un album qui, en s’appuyant sur la plus large palette de textures, d’échantillons et de rythmes jamais utilisés par l’artiste, conforte sa position de paysagiste phare des musiques digitales.

Black (DE):

030 (Germany):

Wenn es um atmosphärisch verdichteten elektronischen Wohlklang geht, ist Geir Jennsen aka Biosphere schon seit Jahren allererste Adresse. Er lässt es zwar immer wieder auf ähnliche Weise blubbern, aber er versteht etwas davon, seine Klangwölkchen mal nach Sonnenschein, mal nach Regen aussehen zu lassen und ist ein echter Meister darin, Stimmungen akustisch einzufangen. Licht aus, Musik an, Füße hoch und sich wegdriften lassen, so lautet die Bedienungsanleitung für diese Platte.

Skug (Germany):

BigLoad (Germany):

... (Czechia):

Playboy (Poland):

Fear Drop (France):

Il arrive que le glacier dépose quelque récompense qu’il a longtemps roulée et érodée dans ses fonds, ses fonds rêches et sombres comme l’inconscient. Polis, les galets, les éclats, montrent beaucoup de sérénité, sans d’autre trace de l’effort séculaire qui les a émoussés que l’annulation de leur tranchant. Il y a quelques années, au début de la carrière solo de Geir Jenssen sous le nom de Biosphere, il avait formé le projet d’une musique rythmée et électronique assumant ses déhanchements dans un environnement glacé, la froide lumière du néon. Peu à peu, les boucles, les tissages se sont allongés, pour prendre les tournures fantasmées d’une musique arctique semée d’éclats, jusqu’à l’abstraction könerienne de Autour de la lune. Après ce passage dans les glaces, Jenssen, comme passé de l’autre côté du pôle, entame sa descente vers des zones plus tempérées. Les neiges fondent, les pierres qu’elles ont roulées et les moraines qu’elles ont creusées gardent l’empreinte d’anciens mouvements que la zone hyperboréenne a transformés. Les sons de cymbales, les contrebasses, jusqu’à des roulements de caisse claire !, sont les nouvelles références rythmiques que Jenssen a héritées de certaines de ses écoutes (Miles Davis, Jon Hassell), filtrées par le souffle du froid et de la brume tout en nuances d’aurore boréale. Dropsonde est la traduction de cette progression, la renaissance à la lumière de gestes et d’articulations qui ont été marquées à jamais par le froid. Le parti pris est presque acoustique, concernant les fragments rythmiques, les percussions et les basses, comme lors d’une recréation virtuelle d’un orchestre jazz. A cela s’ajoutent les vagues de lumière, les multiples étincelles sur la glace qui fond, des irisations. La mélodie est là, qui ne peut que s’engraisser dans pareil terreau. Loin de la pesanteur, ces odes à la souplesse se déroulent en défiant les lois physiques tout autant que les conventions électro ou acoustiques qu’elles mêlent. L’une, fausse chaleur – dont les vagues ont le pli courbé, la finition en coupole – : le relief percussif dénonce son artificialité dans la boucle. L’autre, électronique chauffée : la réverbération synthétique s’incruste de mille éclats métalliques lancés par les cymbales. Les morceaux centraux de l’album, In triple time, From a solid to a liquid et Arafura, sont de ce point de vue exemplaires d’équilibre.

Geir Jenssen a accompli un acte très simple et en même temps presque irréalisable. Il a filmé la naissance de la lumière. Son ballon météo (Dropsonde) capte et rend compte de cette éclosion qui s’apparente à d’autres transformations qu’atmosphériques, à une métamorphose, à la mise au jour d’un organisme musical qui a longuement mûri ses appendices mélodiques et rythmiques dans son cocon de froid. [Denis Boyer]

Sound of Music (Sweden):

Första gången jag hörde ambient musik var jag sexton år gammal, gick på gymnasiet och lyssnade mestadels på band som Stereolab, Boards of Canada och en del Björk. Jag kommer tydligt ihåg hur jag av ren slump råkat ladda ned en låt med en snubbe som kallade sig Biosphere, låten hette ”The Silent Orchestra” och var bland det skummaste jag hört. Det var för mig då ganska oklart varför jag inte kunde sluta lyssna på låten, den hade ju ingen melodi som fastnade på hjärnan eller någon text man kunde gå runt att sjunga på.

Idag börjar jag nog förstå varför ”The Silent Orchestra” är en sådan låt som jag inte bara lyssnade väldigt mycket på utan även började bygga ut mitt hela musikintresse kring. För efter upptäckten av Biosphere följde en utforskning av den ambienta musikkonsten jag sporadiskt arbetar med även nu för tiden. Och det är nog tack vare de upptäckter jag gjort jag lärt mig förstå vad det är som är så fascinerande och fängslande med musik som Biospheres. Det hela har med att göra en form av aktivt lyssnande. Ambient (och även andra former av experimentell musik) lämnar nämligen något upp till lyssnaren, en slags öppenhet för reaktion eller kanske mer ett tvång till reaktion, men istället för att väcka denna reaktion genom en till exempel en textbaserad historia gör ambient musik detta genom rent känsloförmedlande. För på något sätt känns det faktiskt som den bäst passande beskrivningen av experimentell musik, känsloförmedlande.

Biosphere heter egentligen Geir Jenssen och kommer från Tromsö, Norge. Innan Geir började göra musik med sitt Biosphere-projekt spelade han i det Cocteau Twins-influerade bandet Bel Canto. Han har under tiden han arbetat som Biosphere haft en rad sidoprojekt men med jämna mellanrum återvänt till sitt soloprojekt. I dagarna gjorde han det för tionde gången när han gav ut sin senaste skiva ”Dropsonde”.

Jag har under de få år jag levt med Biospheres musik hunnit bli besviken ett flertal gånger, när och varför har varierat men det har inte bara handlat om hans nyare skivor. Ifjol kom till exempel den väldigt underskattade ”Shenzhou” och än en gång var jag en glad beundrare av Geir Jenssens musik. Det hjälpte även till att öka exaltationen över hans senaste släpp. ”Dropsonde” är dock emellertid mer av en besvikelse än en vacker fortsättning på ”Shenzhou”. Bland annat har Geir valt att bygga skivan runt jazz-slingor, något som rent spontant kanske känns som en intressant idé men som i praktiken bara blir att låta som ett tröttsamt Kammerflimmer Kollektief. Det enda som känns bra med att ”Dropsonde” inte lever upp till förväntningarna är att man vet att Biosphere snart är tillbaka med en skiva som placerar honom back on top, under tiden kan man till e

Biosphere "Autour de la Lune" reviews

Touching Extremes (Italy):

The first of the nine movements forming the skeleton of "Autour de la lune" is somehow deceiving: a very long repetition of the same electronic ripple which had me thinking along the lines of "Geir Jenssen goes minimalist", pretty disorientating in regard to the total purity of the largest part of the following aural beauties. But - having been Biosphere a class act for many years now - one doesn't need to wait too much to find a way through a mass of frequencies that are sometimes scarily powerful and all times absolutely mesmerizing like in the fantastic "Deviation", a vibrational kneading on the cerebrum to which anyone who listens will become addicted in a matter of seconds and that puts most of the sacred cows of the "inner spirit department" to a heavy shame. At least 50 of the 75 minutes of this disc could be successfully used to cure nerve-related disorders; listening without headphones will add the resonance of walls and objects to something which - more than music - should be defined as evolutional phenomenon. When "Autour" reaches its conclusion, you'll notice your cochlea has suddenly become thirsty, for this is a milestone of contemporary electronica. [Massimo Ricci]

Record Collecter (UK):

Premier Norwegian space cadet

Space music? What’s that? You could argue for Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland as the first big move into space music. Then came Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and the late 1980s ambient house extravaganzas of The Orb, but all of them made music more akin to mental space excursions than the real thing. The first LP made to accompany space exploration was Eno’s 1983 opus Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks. And now we have by far the truest instance of bona fide space music in the history of sound. Biosphere is Geir Jenssen, Norwegian sonic explorer, mountaineer and creator of six albums of Arctic chill since 1991. His speciality is the drone; stretching tones as far as they can go and dropping discrete samples into the mix.. he uses sound from MIR space-station recordings and Jules Verne radio dramatisations from France. Sustained over six movements with names like Vibration and Rotation this is heady stuff indeed. The 22-minute Translation gives you the genuine feeling of heavy mechanisms moving through the icy stillness of space. Glistening vestiges of sound and subsonic frequencies occur throughout, reminding us that in space the only sounds we will hear are our own. Tremendous. **** [Mark Prendergast]

Plan B (UK):

Jules Verne spoke of the Baltimore Gun Club being the first people to send men to the moon. Being as it was during the nineteenth century, and, more prescie