Jòhann Jòhannsson – The Sun’s Gone Dim and the Sky’s Turned Black (4AD)
4/5
By: Chris O'Toole
Reykjavik, Iceland never fails to inspire, bewitch and surprise. The musical accomplishment of the city, the depth and variety of its recording community and the unassuming quality of the artists put other cities to shame. A real purity of expression and intent surrounds almost all of the music emanating from the region, almost spiritual in nature, untouched by squalid global greed.
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jòhann Jòhannsson is no exception, producing haunting melodies, barren and beautiful in equal measure. Whilst lacking the profile of say Bjork or Sigur Ros, the founder of the Kitchen Motors label is not less prolific or talented, releasing three acclaimed albums since the turn of the millennium.
The single The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black is drawn from the most recent of these albums, and the first for 4AD, 'IBM 1401, A Users Manual'. Recorded with the Prague Orchestra the album was inspired Jòhann hearing a recording of an IBM computer (apparently the first computer taken to Iceland) made by his father, Jòhan Gunnarsson, on a reel-to-reel tape machine decades ago. Thus here we have the electronic voices of his father's early recordings, reciting a poem by Dorothy Parker, blended with the cinematic, expansive orchestral arrangements of the son.
The single presented here is a version of the final movement of the album proper, and is a concise introduction to the work of this contemporary composer. It shimmers as though it were an ice covered landscape at dawn, fragile and lingering as daylight steals the night. A work of some beauty Jòhann has created a piece of great scope and ingenuity, mesmerising in execution and a certain winner for the cold months ahead.
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