HAVENAIRE " Rabot "

Se mai due mondi espressivi potessero apparire più distanti di quelli della scrittura di canzoni e della creazione di maestosi paesaggi ambientali, l’esperienza di John Roger Olsson li riassume sotto il comune denominatore di un approccio legato da un lato a un’istintività malinconica e dall’altro a una sensibilità melodica che ovviamente si manifesta in maniera molto diversa nei due diversi campi. Dopo una duratura attività di cantautore indie-folk come The Grand Opening, dallo scorso anno l’artista svedese si è costruito l’identità parallela di Havenaire, sotto la quale ha già pubblicato la cassetta “Tremolo”. Le emozionali sensazioni ambient-drone che già da essa si percepivano sono notevolmente amplificate nel nuovo e più organico “Rabot”, lavoro ispirato all’inattingibile imponenza dell’omonimo ghiacciaio lappone e non a caso incluso nel catalogo a tema dell’etichetta romana Glacial Movements.Imponente e stratificato come un ghiacciaio è appunto il suono condensato nei circa tre quarti d’ora del lavoro, la cui title track d’apertura funge già da rinnovato manifesto espressivo di Olsson: coltri sintetiche, riverberi luminosi, oscillazioni ariose e minute vibrazioni ritmiche avanzano con incedere solenne, costruendo man mano che il brano si sviluppa un immaginario percettivo di soverchiante vitalità e bellezza. A partire da queste premesse, la declinazione isolazionista dell’ambience dell’artista svedese si definisce in maniera quanto mai dinamica e coinvolgente, regalando scorci seppiati all’insegna della nostalgia (“Enquist Photo 1910”) e ipnotiche saturazioni sintetiche (“Calving”), fino alle maestose elevazioni che popolano la parte finale del lavoro (“Tarfala Valley” e “Sarek (Part 1-2)”). Cinematico e fortemente suggestivo, “Rabot” traslittera in flussi, correnti e coltri ambientali la sensibilità melodica e la vena malinconica di John Roger Olsson, offrendo un saggio di come i mezzi espressivi siano soltanto accessori allo spirito di un artista che, nelle vesti attuali e di fronte al fascino misterioso della natura nordica, riesce come non mai a comunicare coinvolgenti moti dell’animo. *disco della settimana dal 27 novembre al 3 dicembre 2017MUSIC WON'T SAVE YOU

Roland Juno-106, Moog Sub Phatty, Grendel Drone Commander, piano, macchine e strumenti che producono una potenza di fuoco capace di incitare il suono e farlo dilagare ancor più in profondità, possono spronarlo ad aumentare la propria già incredibile potenza aumentando la frequenza del battito contro cui andrà fragorosamente a frangersi. Roger Olsson in arte Havenaire è maestro di cerimonie armonionose, sa incantare l’animo con l’iterazione concentrica del suono, sa rapire e ipnotizzare usando le antiche e basse frequenze del Moog e delle sue creature liquide in espansione costante ai confini del cuore. Il musicista, produttore e compositore svedese riesce a produrre sonorità che alcuni definirebbero pop per il loro facile inchinarsi all’ascolto melodico. In realtà le sue sono brevi e complesse sinfonie elettroniche composte sul bordo di una modernità al collasso, alla ricerca di un rifugio dove finalmente poter riprendere il dialogo interrotto con la natura, magari proprio lì, sulle pendici del ghiacciaio Rabot, nel profondo nord della Svezia.SHERWOOD

Szwedzki lodowiec. Można próbować czas oszukać i puszczać sobie radosne rytmy z Jamajki, żeby poczuć trochę więcej ciepła niż za oknem, ale w końcowym rozrachunku wyjdzie z tego strata czasu. Lepiej zaakceptować rzeczywistość i rzucić się w objęcia muzyki chłodnej, ambientowej i poruszanej powolnymi przesunięciami tonacji (niczym jakiś masyw górski). Odniesienie do gór nasuwa się samo jeśli spojrzy się na okładkę albumu „Rabot”. Otóż widnieje na niej lodowiec Rabot w majestatycznym ujęciu. Za zdjęcie odpowiada Fredrik Enquist. Natomiast za muzykę na płycie odpowiada John Roger Olsson. To on kryje się za nazwą Havenaire. Porzucił komponowanie melancholijnego popu na rzecz analogowych syntezatorów i muzyki ambient.„Rabot” wziął się z oglądania starych zdjęć Fredrika Enquista szwedzkiego geografa. Z resztą jeden z utworów wprost odnosi się do tej inspiracji poprzez swój tytuł „Enquist Photo 1910”. Muzyka tu zaprezentowana ma odzwierciedlać niespieszność. Dronowe pomruki, ambientowe plamy dźwiękowe i filmowa aura są siłą napędową. Melancholijny ton „Rabot” sprawia, że można poczuć się odizolowanym od świata. Twórca nie unika też wycieczek w stronę hipnotycznego transu („Calving”). Całość budzi respekt swoim majestatem. Wszystko tu jest duże, monumentalne wręcz. Może to Skandynawska natura, a może usposobienie Olssona sprawia, że nie ma w tym nadmiernego przygnębienia, a jedynie obcowanie z chłodnym, melancholijnym bezkształtem.NOVAMUZIKA.PL

John Roger Olsson is perhaps better known for the guitar-based music of The Grand Opening. This is the second album from his ambient electronic alter ego, the first having come out on Constellation Tatsu last year. The cover depicts a glacier in northern Sweden, and the music is similarly icy and glacial, yet melodic. For fans of Ben Frost, William Basinski, Tim Hecker.NORMAN RECORDS

If you’re in the market for something even more abstract and quiet, consider this new release from John Roger Olsson, who records as Havenaire for the aptly-named Glacial Movements label. The label name would lead you to expect very slowly-moving music, which this is, but it might also lead you to expect very cold music, which this isn’t. The six tracks are inspired by early-20th-century landscape photos of Sweden, and all of them are simultaneously melancholy and deeply beautiful. There’s a lot more detail here than might be apparent at first listen, which is one of the important things that separates ambient music from mere aural wallpaper. Recommended to pop and classical collections..CD HOTLIST

Havenaire is the ambient musical project of John Roger Olsson which is also a pop musician as The Grand Opening and this is also audible as, even if this is a proper ambient release, instead of relying on the use of drone, a melody is a building element of all tracks. The title and the theme of this release is inspired by old photos taken in 1910 by Fredrik Enquist, a Swedish geographer, and one is in the cover artwork and his aesthetic fills the overall ideas behind the releases published by Glacial Movements. As "Rabot" starts, the listener is immediately introduced into the sonic framework of this release: two drones juxtaposed one as a background and one slowly developing in a sort of pale melody which evoke the landscape of the cover artwork. "Enquist Photo 1910" is a crescendo where small details and nuances are introduced as the track evolves. "Sylarna" is a quiet track whose loop in the background hypnotize the listener. "Calving" seems a crescendo but, as it seems to reach a peak, it slow down to quiet drone to start again. "Tarfala Valley" is a quiet sonic rest as "Sarek (Part 1-2)" closes this release with a first part which seems static as all his development is in small details and resonances while the second uses small noises moving in the sonic field as the background exposes a looping melody in the background. While someone could reasonably states that this release is deeply rooted in a canonical form, the impressive quality of the writing, the craft in sound construction and the ability to catch the listener places it to the status of half masterpiece. Truly recommendedCHAIN DLK

Stockholm-based producer John Roger Olsson uses Havenaire as his ambient alias, and this is his first album for the Italian label Glacial Movements. In keeping with many other releases on the label ‘Rabot’ is a collection of pieces based on photographs, and works without the need for percussion, relying on keyboard pulses and slowly shifting loops to generate movement. Olsson uses a richly layered sound, piling up big chords that float in mid-air. These can move between the bright, airy ‘Enquist Photo 1910’ and the more threatening ‘Calving’, which uses quarter tones to unnerving effect towards the end. The beautiful sounds echo the glaciers that inspire a lot of this music, and Olsson presents it as bright, calming ambience that slows the mind in all the right ways.DMC WORLD MAG

Welcome back to the quiet, ambient world that seems to dog me where ever I go. But the ambience does calm, this world is suffused with amelodic and breathy sounds from Scandinavian lands. This album finds its inspiration in the photos of Swedish geographer Fredrik Enquist. The cover art comes from a 1910 picture Enquist took somewhere in the distant north; the sound comes from a guy named John Roger Olsson, best known for his European melancholic pop stylings, and that’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one. Six tracks populate this distant land of ice and frozen melancholy; title track “Rabot” swells and murmurs as if attempting to find a path out of a slushy ocean just about to undergo that phase transition from fluid to solid. We hear no break between tracks; this is an audio environment experiment not a pop album. “Enquist Photo 1910” changes the pace slightly as if a gentle wind shifted the ice’s drift. The names of distant island float buy- Sylarnea, Tarfala, Sarek. A cello slides an endless note, other strings stay hidden in the ice fog. No bird is heard, no icebergs calve, not even in the track called “Calving.” Rather, the strings move tad faster, the sound menaces more, but all change remains at a safe distance. Winter has arrived, here is your personal sound track to get you from the last solstice holiday to the spring of May. Bundle up.INK 19