Teahouse Radio – Her Quiet Garden (CD Album – Hypnagoga Press)
Genre/Influences: Dark-cinematographic, dark-ambient.
Background/Info: Teahouse Radio is a new project driven by Pär Boström. We all know his involvement with Kammarheit and Cities Last Broadcast, but Teahouse Radio is somewhat different. It’s meant as ‘an intimate, hidden therapeutic world between worlds, a place of nostalgia mixed with melancholia, and a way to fight mental illness with music’. The tracks of this debut work were composed in between 2004 and 2017.
Content: Forget Kammarheit and Cities Last Broadcast; Teahouse Radio indeed sounds more intimate. Less sounds and arrangements have been used. The main focus seems to create a very personal sonic inner world characterized by the impact of atmospheres. Kristal-like sounds have been used next to piano- and guitar playing/effects accentuating a state of loneliness and abandonment.
+ + + : The sphere hanging over this work reminds me of Tor Lundvall. It feels like an intimate voyage throughout the mind and fears of the author. Less sound layers have been used and yet you can feel such an overwhelming sensation. Each note has its importance to create a real impact. The album also feels a bit like a paradox; there’s a kind of serenity at one side and yet it feels mysterious and a bit obscure.
– – – : Teahouse Radio for sure appears to be the most experimental- and intimate project set up by Pär Boström so in the end it will maybe not become the most recognized.
Conclusion: I like the idea -or concept behind Teahouse Radio and “Her Quiet Garden’ is an intriguing sonic voyage illustrating the refinement of the artist.
Best songs: “The Elsewhere Sleep”, “Dreaming Splendid Places”, “Unable”.
Rate: (7).
Artist: www.teahouseradio.com / www.facebook.com/teahouseradio
Label: http://hypnagogapress.com / www.facebook.com/hypnagogapres
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