Sysselmann – Ritual Of The Aurora Noir (CD EP – Winter-Light)
Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient.
Background/Info: Sysselmann is a Norwegian solo-project driven by Thomas Narverud. After a few previous releases featuring the full length album “The Northern Chronicles” (2016) Sysselmann now joined hands together with Winter-Light to unleash this four-track EP. The work is meant as a “tribute to the collective consciousness of the Northern parts of Norway….. A celebration of the magical coastal landscape and those who came before us.”
Content: The work takes off with the long-during and progressively built up title track. This cut takes you in its grip for more than 10 minutes, revealing a kind of electro-analogue sound wave joined by drones. A similar sensation emerges from the next cut. Overwhelming sound treatments and background drones are suddenly interrupted by a kind of electronic trumpet sound on “The Long Wait – Memorial Mix” while the work comes to an end with the dark-astral sounding “First Winter Light”.
+ + + : The opening title-track is a fascinating composition, which is slowly built up and crescendo moves towards its ultimate point. You feel like moving through a dark and endless tunnel vision where the monotony –which has something exciting, is sometimes interrupted by a few extra sounds or noises. This is a work that slowly grows on you to finally get you in its sonic web.
– – – : The total climax at this work is right in the beginning with the first cut and that’s a pity as the other cuts left –which are cool, never reaches a similar level.
Conclusion: Sysselmann is a project I have never heard of before, but which clearly has the potential to conquer dark-ambient souls.
Best songs: “Ritual Of The Aurora Noir”, “MS Nordlysnatt”, “The Long Wait – Memorial-mix”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/sysselmann
Label: www.winter–light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1
About Sysselmann
Sysselmann is the solo project of Norwegian musician Thomas Narverud, part of the Origami Republika tape network since 1997 through the related project Inderst Elia. Built around field recordings and slow-moving drone, the project released the full-length “The Northern Chronicles” in 2016 before signing to Winter-Light for “Ritual Of The Aurora Noir”, a four-track EP billed as a tribute to “the collective consciousness of the Northern parts of Norway”.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
