Tape - Opera Plus (CD)


The packaging gives little details about this album except for three names -- Andreas Berthling, Johan Berthling, and Tomas Hallonsten -- and a long list of instruments that includes guitars, laptop, harmonica, glockenspiel, and Styrofoam. Vintage analog synthesizers neighbor zithers, field recordings, and high-tech digital manipulation in this underwritten and strangely seducing "opera." There are no vocals and no plot, so the music owes more to the pastorale than any operatic form, especially since its beauty verges on cuteness. The approach is resolutely avant-garde. The trio, Tape, doesn't just steal the most palatable trends from the experimental scene to give its tunes an edge, it integrates many processes and ideas to a form of instrumental music that stands closer to '50s and '60s Scandinavian folk than anything usually tagged "post-rock." The only possible comparison would be to Collections of Colonies of Bees or Telecognac. Here it is a simple acoustic guitar motif providing a backbone for crowded arrangements. There the harmonium drones while a harmonica states a deceptively simple melody. Elsewhere, digital collage turns ageless, peaceful instrument playing into cutting-edge improvisation. The pieces remain concise, yet nothing is rushed or forced down the listener's throat. Opera has substance, yet it goes by effortlessly, like a dream. Definitely worth your time. ~ Fran‡ois Couture

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Product Description

The packaging gives little details about this album except for three names -- Andreas Berthling, Johan Berthling, and Tomas Hallonsten -- and a long list of instruments that includes guitars, laptop, harmonica, glockenspiel, and Styrofoam. Vintage analog synthesizers neighbor zithers, field recordings, and high-tech digital manipulation in this underwritten and strangely seducing "opera." There are no vocals and no plot, so the music owes more to the pastorale than any operatic form, especially since its beauty verges on cuteness. The approach is resolutely avant-garde. The trio, Tape, doesn't just steal the most palatable trends from the experimental scene to give its tunes an edge, it integrates many processes and ideas to a form of instrumental music that stands closer to '50s and '60s Scandinavian folk than anything usually tagged "post-rock." The only possible comparison would be to Collections of Colonies of Bees or Telecognac. Here it is a simple acoustic guitar motif providing a backbone for crowded arrangements. There the harmonium drones while a harmonica states a deceptively simple melody. Elsewhere, digital collage turns ageless, peaceful instrument playing into cutting-edge improvisation. The pieces remain concise, yet nothing is rushed or forced down the listener's throat. Opera has substance, yet it goes by effortlessly, like a dream. Definitely worth your time. ~ Fran‡ois Couture

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Product Details

General

Label

Forced Exposure

Release date

April 2008

Availability

Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.

Originally released

April 2008

Recorded by

Dimensions

127 x 140 x 8mm (L x W x T)

Format

CD

Categories

LSN

XGB-C6P-GCM-1

Tracks

Disk 1

  1. Bell Mountain
  2. Fire Made of Bones
  3. Leafed Hands
  4. Feeler
  5. Summa
  6. Cookie Drum (Reads Too Much)
  7. Radiolaria
  8. Longitude
  9. Noises From a Hill
  10. Return To Ship
  11. Terraces
  12. Chord Mountain
  13. Rut



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