Marcus Fjellström Schattenspieler

Swedish modern composer and multimedia artist Marcus Fjellström’s debut Miasmah release, ‘Schattenspieler’…

(which translates as ‘Shadowplayer’), takes the form of eleven compositions exploring ambience, melody, texture and silence.

Haunting synth and orchestral instrument-based audio constructions flow from one moment to the next – the fleeting ghosts of Fjellström’s melodies rise, only to be buried under a claustrophobic clutter of percussion and creaking background noise…

The immediate and most striking aspect of the release is the distinctive use of the found sounds or field recording layers –a majority of the recordings of this type I’ve heard tend to use them as “textures”, background or incidental noise. In this instance the field noise is front and centre, and has the appearance of being largely unprocessed. Interesting effect, as the string and musical work is then hidden around and behind the noise, making it appear distant. The foreground is boomy and low-fi; the background is polished and considered.

This appears to have the deliberate intent, as his website states – “In his works, Fjellström often aims to combine opposites so that they don’t contradict each other, but rather fuse into a natural, third element. There is often a challenging of the gap between ”high” and ”low” culture, of the naïve and the sophisticated, of good and bad taste”. In this instance, he has succeeded admirably.

I took it out into the world with me a number of times. It’s been an odd winter where I am, bitterly cold nights with a heavy frost, then followed by early morning sun. It’s a similar situation to the music – the landscape is covered in a thick icy sheen, making it harder to see the original form and characteristics of something, and the context that you see it in is unusual. The layers melt in the light over time, and the original form peeks out. I couldn’t help but think that this was appropriate music for the weather.
“The Disjointed” opens with long drawn string sounds and skitterish percussion breaks. “Bis Einer Weint” is more melodic and textured, with interesting string work.

“Antichrist Architecture Management” has a more syncopated electronic feel to it, with occasional drops of hiss and crash. There’s an ebb and flow to this number that’s quite compelling, fading in and out of the speakers.

“Untitled 090616” is a real highlight, a more indirect drone that doesn’t have the melodramatic tone of some of the others – it has a real ambience to it, and a great sense of cavernous space.

“Tremolous” has a quite frenetic and energetic gait to it and closes the first half of the record, leading into the four-part suite ‘House Without A Door’, originally commissioned for the Bernd Behr film of the same name.

The four tracks in question, “Monolith And Bunker”, “Noir Revisited”, “Perspex” and “Liquide Fire” retain the same characteristics of the preceding numbers, and maintain the tone admirably. There’s a heavy cinematic vibe at play here, and the film in question would no doubt have acquired a great atmosphere with the use of this material. The breakout piece of these four would probably be “Liquide Fire”, with some interesting chime and wind-like tones that distinguish it from the weighty presence of the other tracks.

The press release accompanying the music drops Angelo Badalamenti and Jerry Goldsmith as a reference points, and uses terms like claustrophobic, harrowing and tense in relation to the record as a whole. Entirely appropriate, as it is not easy listening by any means. It is, however, notable for its brave and daring production, clouding well arranged and recorded orchestral instrumentation in distinctive and unusual tones and moods.

“The question I get the most is also the hardest one to answer. My aim is almost always to try to make the music I really want to hear but still haven’t heard, and thus it is sort of contradictory to try to make references and compare my work to already existing music. I’ve always been most interested in what’s BETWEEN genres rather than what’s in them.” – Marcus Fjellström

“Schattenspieler” will be released by Miasmah Recordings on September 13th.

- Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

1 The Disjointed
2 Bis Einer Weint
3 Antichrist Architecture Management
4 Untitled 090616
5 Tremolous
6 Monolith And Bunker
7 Noir Revisited
8 Perspex
9 Liquide Fire
10 Tenebrous
11 Uncanny Valleys

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