| Artist: Biosphere Album: Cirque Label: Touch |  
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One of the enduring questions of our post-rock era deals with whether technology is our tool or idol. Of course the term "techno music" is derived from this word and near the center of this debate. So where in this body of music can be found the human element? What are we left with once all the correct buttons are pushed and the proper dials spun?
On the album Cirque, Biosphere (Norwegian electronic musician Geir Jenssen) offers us more than mere sonic manipulation. Jenssen looks beyond his synth manuals and into himself to realize music that is an inextricable weave of sound engineering, solitary reflection and chill-out room aesthetics. Consider the album's tracks as 11 degrees of emotion, lingering, then shifting to another state. The subtlety of Cirque is in the impression left, rather than the story told. Using expressionist folly, warm insight and pulse beats, Biosphere creates singular and valid music with personal and intimate content. The found sounds, static rhythm loops, noises, warm pads and sonic fragments, have little or no meaning on their own yet are somehow the building blocks of Biosphere's music, which is a realization greater than the sum of its parts. - Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 04 January 2001 | |
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