With previous releases by Rapoon, Lull, Skare, Bvdub, Loscil and Stormloop, the Glacialmovements label (founded by Alessandro Tedeschi) has become a sort of quality trademark in itself. A trademark for“glacial and isolationist ambient”.
Pjusk‘s “Tele“, the label’s latest release, firmly establishes this reputation.
For non-norwegians, “Tele” may not have the right associations: it is the Norwegian wordt describing frozen underground water.
“Tele is a journey of snow, ice and cold.”
…and the beauty within, I might add.
Pjusk (Rune Sagevik and Jostein Dahl) create their music from a cabin high up in the Norwegian mountain, “framed by snowy peaks and the sound of cold streams”.
Previously, Geir (Biosphere) Jenssen also found his inspiration (for Polar Sequences) from the very same landcape, and in fact the music is somewhat linked in mood and atmosphere.
Starting slow and quiet with glacial sound effects, the mood is soon set with the sound of what seems to be a gigantic fog-horn. From there, the journey continues deep into the harsh Norwegian landscapes.
Slowly building up the underlying rhythms, then deconstructing them again until returning back to the sound of the foghorns in the closing track “Polar” .
The 9 tracks on “Tele” are carefully crafted and ordered in such a way that the sequence feels like its telling a story. The story of a Norwegian round-trip, maybe.
If for you, “Snow”, “Ice” and “Cold” are words with mainly negative connotations, listen to this release and think again.
And, if possible, book a trip to Norway!
Pjusk – Polar
– (Also on Spotify)