| Artist: Jónsi and Alex Album: Riceboy Sleeps Released: 21 July 2009 |   |
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The sounds on Riceboy Sleeps (67'26") by Jónsi & Alex seem not part of the physical world. Jon Thor Birgisson (Sigur Ros) and Alex Somers (Parachutes) realize music that has been inspired by an Ambient ideal existing somewhere beyond this plane. The nine tracks are relatively short, just several moments each. Delicately rendered, they are deceptively small-scaled and naturalistic - and together form an epic. Their music for the quiet mind grows softly with layered strings, random piano notes, breathing guitar, field recordings and a variety of beautiful voices. Textures thicken, as the listener becomes enthralled in the revealing depths. In this music a narrative is not provided, but sought after in the greater whole of which their music is a part. Because the end of each piece comes so much more quickly than that of a sprawling Ambient soundworld, the experience is cherished all the more. The works on Riceboy Sleeps are an elegant and atmospheric expression of humanity, and a reminder to the digital age of what has been lost to the programs of machines.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 17 December 2009 | |
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