HILD
SOFIE TAFJORD - kama
(CD,
picadisk)
When the source sounds are being manipulated so
strongly and dense, that they form something completely new, that hides the
origin just as completely, is it then important what the original source is?
For example, is it important from what kind of electronic sources artists
like Masami Akita or Lasse
Marhaug draw their sound sculptures and explorations from, when
the result is of such strong impact? Yes, it is. I do believe that just as
every question carries its answer in its genes, no matter how much you
transform or manipulate something, there is something remaining of each
stage of its transformation in the result. Something you might not be able
to see or hear on the surface, but that permeates through the layers of
thick noise or greyness and influences its perception, even if only on a
subliminal level. Just like the history of mankind that is stored somewhere
in our DNA.
The french horn is a rare instrument, in its homebase
of classical, probably mostly baroque music, as well as in any other musical
genre. Even in avantgarde or experimental circles, the french horn is rarely
seen, albeit the penchant of fringe musicians for fringe instruments. The
french horn has a warm and tender sound, able to be blown gently and
romantically, but also with a certain degree of wildness, which made it a
choice instrument for romantic gestures and musical figures of nature
blooming. The french horn, apart from some overblown instrumentation on
recordings by the Beatles and some of their colleagues during the heyday of
LSD-usage in the studio, never was able to transform into the modern music
language in any form.
Hild Sofie Tafjord is an experimental musician that has
been around quite a bit. She performed as Fe-Mail together with Maja Ratkje, who
formed Trincaria together with the metal band Enslaved. She worked with Birchville Cat Motel,
Wolf Eyes,
Matmos, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith and many others. Her work can be found on
records from labels with interests as far apart as ECM and Gameboy and Rune
Grammofon. And most of all, next to some other things, her main instrument
is the french horn and she uses it to explore completely new and unsailed
waters on the landscape of this instrument. She extracts, manipulates,
condenses and inflates the sounds of the french horn until its origin is
lost and new, exciting sounds come up. It seems as if she is also using all
kinds of contact mics to record the sound of the instrument itself as well
as the soundwaves when it is being played. She expands the vision of the
french horn to a new width.
“kama” is one long, single piece of music Tafjord
recorded from 2006 to 2007 and it spans a wide range of droning noise to
droning noise. My favorite parts are those with some low and subtle
crackling noises and longwinding, melancholic, sort of metallic sounding
horn sounds lay over that. Like a ship gently floating through slowly
freezing passages in the north. Sometimes subtle pulses arise and
fascinatingly add a very human warmth to the piece. At various parts there
are dynamic and sometimes even chaotic shifts, harsh noises breaking through
or just a rising level of distortion. Sometimes Tafjord shifts layers on top
of more layers to produce an ever more interesting trip down and back to
more simple areas. It is hard for me to get to grips with the structure of
“kama” because magically its form seems to shift everytime I hear it.
And since I am completely averse to the idea of taking notes while listening
to music, I am stuck with the simple impression of a very moving and always
shifting work of art and the only thing I can say for sure is, that it seems
to be getting a lot louder towards the end.
All in all “kama” is a very fascinating piece of
music. It is in some respects old school fringe noise, but it is also very
refined and special, and if you let it, it is able to shake you. The more
subtle and sublime noises in the beginning open up the doors and pathways
for your subconscious to step out into the light. While the harsher and more
massive noise at the end will induce a slight dose of paranoia into your
vision and you’ll be turning around checking for movements when you know
perfectly well that there is no one else here but you. Effective in all
respects.
By the way, this is the third release on Lasse
Marhaug’s new label. The first one was his mighty 4CD-"tapes 1990-1999"-box. Upcoming are releases to be expected by
Oren Ambarchi, Hijokaidan, Birchville Cat Motel and the Incapacitants. Good
Luck! I used to like Jazzassassin a lot when it was still around. The
Scandinavian Noise Manifesto or the Aube/Marhaug split CD still ring in my
ears. Those are some high expectations.
