svarte greiner: black tie

After two bone-chilling full-lengths for the Type Recordings imprint, Erik K. Skodvin has embarked on his first journey for his own Miasmah label with Black Tie. While originally conceived as a soundtrack to an installation by Norwegian artist Marit Følstad, Skodvin uses this as a starting point to craft his most unnerving long-form pieces to date. Split into two distinct movements, "Black Tie" and "White Noise," we are exposed to the yin and yang of Skodvin's patented acoustic doom, and all the gravitas that it might contain. "Black Tie" was the piece which ended up being used in the installation itself, and is the closest to Skodvin's established sound as it stops time around its creaking cello, plucked strings and whispering ambience. Subtle and slow, the track blooms into a skeletal cloud of radio static and distortion before sinking back down to earth on those familiar moaning strings. With "White Noise" however, Skodvin takes us on a different journey, allowing panoramic synthesizer drones to take control while Middle Eastern strings chime in the distance. Transcendent and disarming, Skodvin manages to connect the dots between Biosphere, Thomas Köner and of course Deaf Center and still emerge with something fresh and unexpected. More than simply an accompanying work to an installation, Black Tie is a crucial new chapter in the Svarte Greiner evolution, and one that should give a few clues as to what might come next.

Svarte Greiner - Black Tie