Ambient

DiN has always offered the opportunity for diverse artists to form interesting and unexpected collaborations. Bernhard Wostheinrich has certainly endorsed that ethos with four DiN releases to date, Blast (DiN6) with Markus Reuter as Centrozoon, Praposition (DiN13) as one half of Subsonic Experience, Moiré (DiN18) with label boss Ian Boddy and most recently on Conundrum (DiN27) with Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock. On Arcadia Borealis Bernhard is joined by Norwegian ambient artist Erik Wollo. Although this is Erik’s first DiN outing he is well known internationally having released many acclaimed albums on labels such as Spotted Peccary and having collaborated before with well known artists such as Steve Roach. Indeed it was at a music festival in The Netherlands where Erik and Bernhard first met which coincidentally had DiN label boss Ian Boddy playing on the same bill.

The basic premise for the music on Arcadia Borealis was to look at the 18th Century when Artic explorers were like the Apollo astronauts of their time. Venturing into the great unknown with the real possibility of never returning home. A time when the books of Jules Verne & H.G.Wells were setting the tone for the scientific advances that were still to come. Thus the album takes the listener on a journey into new and unexplored lands inspired by the landscapes and weather prevalant in Wollo’s Norwegian homeland.

The 12 tracks cover a range of atmospheres with many environmental sounds providing an aural backdrop over which Wostheinrich creates his characteristic organic, evolving rhythms. Wollo is well known for the melodic element of his work and he weaves beautiful, beguiling melodies that rise and fall like the seas those early explorers would have sailed upon. At times the music has an austere simplicity reminiscent of Wollo’s Norwegian compatriot Biosphere and certainly each track paints a sonic picture that the listener can absorb themselves in.