Drone Records

BIOSPHERE - N-Plants

Format: do-LP

Label & Cat.Number: Biophon Records BIO6LP

Release Year: 2020

Note: vinyl version (re-press 2020) of the underrated 2010 album. A Soundtrack to specific Japanese Nuclear Power Plants, finished about one month before the Fukushima catastrophe happened !! comes in gatefold cover

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €32.00

More Info

"Geir Jenssen writes: Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis. A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said: the plants were so well designed that 'such a situation is practically impossible'. The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th I received the following message from a Facebook friend: 'Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear powerplant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future? Kind regards, David." [label info]

"Obviously we have to believe Geir Jenssen when he writes that in February he decided to make an album about Japanese post-war economic miracle, found a picture of a nuclear power plant, and wondered why so many are close to the sea, and what would happen if a tsunami would sweep the land? We know the answer by now. I assume Jenssen didn't make this story up as good line to sell a CD. Its been a while since we last heard Biosphere, a new work that is, as 'Patashnik' is still an ipod favorite here, and a work that breaks away, it seems, with the more recent ambient works. 'N-Plants' sees a return to the world of rhythm and that makes this quite a remarkable work. Biosphere going back to the world of dance music, although its hard to imagine people actually dancing to this. But if my crystal ball gazing is right, ambient house is soon to be on a revival trip, following the recent explosion in cosmic music, and then Biosphere can't do wrong. He plays here with the elements of cosmic music and adds nice minimalist beats to it. Loops of keyboard sounds, spiced with 4/4 minimal beats (more Cologne than Berlin) as well as layered drones of what might be more keyboards, or heavily processed field recordings, make up some great music, returning to his earlier music, but expanding it. Out are the voice samples, the beats are reduced to the bare minimum, the ambience is more to the foreground, making this another essential Biosphere record." [FdW/Vital Weekly]