Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful soundscapes and textural compositions: brilliant, 12 Jun 2002
After ten years of recording as Biopshere, Tromso born Geir Jenssen has firmly established himself at the forefront of experimental ambient music. Although his early releases still bore the marks of dance music, his music has now evolved towards more atmospheric structures, where beats are scarce and environmental sounds are essential. Patashnik, his second album, was already shaping what would become the Biosphere sound, but it is not until his third opus, the seminal Substrata, originally released on All Saints Records in 1997 and recently reissued by Touch as a double album, that Jenssen really started exploring the immense possibilities of ambient music the way Brian Eno did in the eighties with his Ambient series. He now comes back after two years of silence with a new album, almost entirely based on orchestral works by French classical composer Claude Debussy.
One of the most important French composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Claude Debussy was very often associated with the impressionist movement and symbolist writers, and his non-conformist tonal structures still inspire many musicians. Probably better known for his orchestral works, including Prélude A l'Après-midi D'Un Faune and La Mer, Debussy was very influenced by the work of Russian composers such as Borodin or Mussorgsky, and traces of eastern music can be found in a few of his compositions. Geir Jenssen experiments on Shenzhou with similar elements, weaving his distinctive near-beatless soundscapes around recurring patterns throughout, superposing them on Debussy's own orchestrations. The title track, which opens the album, slowly introduces the multiple elements of this work, reverently contrasting them to establish a perfect balance of impressions. These diverse components are echoed in turn in each track, placing them in different perspectives. Jenssen acts as an impressionist painter himself, applying little touches which, heard individually, do not equal to them heard in context, contributing to producing sonic effects and auditory illusions. If Houses On The Hill or Path Leading To The High Grass confront these warm soundscapes with isolationist percussions, the remaining tracks are entirely devoid of rhythmic structures, Jenssen relying instead on more subtle sound organisations to create movement.
With this visionary record, Geir Jenssen proves once more that he is the most talented musician around able to create such beautiful and intense music out of arid sources. By associating himself with the musical genius that was Debussy, not only does he emulate his own work, but also give a whole new dimension to the work of the French composer.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jennsen produces classically influenced winner, 18 Jun 2002
Geir Jennsen and his Biosphere project has been a success from start to finish. It's quite good to say that all of his albums have been quite brilliant, though some of course more brilliant than others. But all have been of a high standard, which others in the same genre can't even begin to match. 'Shenzhou' is no different. Incorporating influences from Claude Debussy, Jennsen makes another album full of soft, ambient sounds, ready to delight the listener. Not a huge departure from his previous album 'Cirque', he retains the warm ambient sounds, but evolves them into a more classical sound, due to the constant samples from Debussy's many works. For any fans of Biosphere this is another album that will add greatly to your appreciation of this man and his fine work. All that you need to know is that if you were worrying if the classical influence would impede on the Biosphere sound, then your fears are misguided. Biosphere interweaves the classical influences into his electronic ambient sound, so much so that it is like listening to a (high) standard Biosphere release. Top Marks
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Subtle and brilliant, 24 Oct 2003
This is perhaps more of a sound engineering exercise than flat-out composition, but the subtle effect that Biosphere created is incredible; this really is outstanding, and I'd have to toss a coin as to whether this or Cirque is his best record.Absolute genius, and as someone else said, it's almost more art than music. It's not _ambient_ as such with the washing synths et al, but meticulously contructed atmosphere from a very original choice of source material. Almost what I could imagine DJ Vadim putting together if he was coming from an ambient background rather than hiphop
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