YAIR ELAZAR GLOTMAN "NORTHERN GULFS"

Berlin-based sound artist Yair Elazar Glotman combines digital processing, analogue electronics, acoustic instruments and field recordings on this dense and mysterious album, a mixture of dark ambient atmospherics and gentle soundtracky melodicism. The sounds are constructed in seemingly haphazard texturescapes, all flickering static and shivering processed strings, digital glitches and wavering synth drones, it twitches in a dark, moist ooze of granular drones, intermittent twinkles and humming darkside dread.In a way it’s quite slickly composed, with slowly-unfolding melodies hidden inside the constantly evolving tonescapes but a fluttering animalistic randomness to the details which keeps it sounding strangely natural despite the computerised aspects, like these sounds have been forged in the overcast wilds of nature away from human influence, particularly effective when he drifts between concord and discord on the chiling ‘High Tide’. It’s not always the easiest listen but it’s absorbing and evocative throughout.NORMAN RECORDS

Chi l’ha detto che il concept dell’isolazionismo ghiacciato debba necessariamente produrre opere di dark-ambient ottundente e uniforme? In realtà, la romana Glacial Movements è da tempo andata discostandosi da un’estetica tanto affascinante quanto dagli spazi per variazioni spesso piuttosto ristretti.Non desta dunque stupore, bensì costituisce soltanto un ulteriore tassello di questo ambizioso percorso la nuova pubblicazione dell’etichetta curata da Alessandro Tedeschi, che vede come protagonista l’artista di origine israeliana, ma residente a Berlino, Yair Elazar Glotman. È il suo stesso retroterra creativo a differire da quello di un semplice manipolatore di strati sonori sintetici: Glotman è infatti un compositore elettro-acustico a tutto tondo, la cui formazione classica e l’attività di sonorizzatore di film, installazioni e pièce di danza non gli ha tuttavia fatto disdegnare l’interesse per l’elettronica. Tutt’altro, tanto che il suo ideale viaggio tra le profonde insenature e gli abissi dei mari nordici rappresenta ben probabilmente l’uscita di Glacial Movements dal più consistente contenuto ritmico.Fin dall’incipit “Sunken Anchor” i due mondi di Glotman convivono in equilibrata armonia, con austere modulazioni di contrabbasso saldate con inusitata naturalezza a un universo di pulsazioni e sciabordii che riecheggiano, appunto, profondità misteriose. È tuttavia l’intero “Northern Gulfs” a muoversi sul medesimo esile crinale, con torbide ambientazioni ancora percorse da fremiti palpabili (“Khaypudyr Bay”) e immersioni in recessi tenebrosi, popolati da saturazioni tremule, sibili e crepiti oscillanti tra alta e bassa marea (il binomio “High Tide”-“Low Tide”). Anzi, la parte conclusiva del lavoro si apre persino a modulazioni ricamate da suoni brillanti (“Kara Sea”) e a un romanticismo sporcato appena sporcato dall’universo sonoro brulicante di Glotman, incessantemente percorso da detriti, vibrazioni e rumori che ne allontanano dalle convenzioni dark-ambient la personale e cinematica declinazione delle suggestioni del grande nord, nell’occasione rese nelle loro componenti più liquide e organiche. La relativa concisione dell’opera (quarantotto minuti) agevola la fruizione degli affascinanti paesaggi di “Northern Gulfs”, frutto di una stimolante sintesi tra impronta classica, non comune sensibilità digitale e fascinazione per gli elementi particellari di profondità tanto gelide quanto vivificanti..MUSIC WON'T SAVE YOU

Quant à Glacial Movements, il nous fait justement découvrir ce mois-ci l’univers du Berlinois Yair Elazar Glotman, instrumentiste et sound designer dont l’univers mêle fourmillements électroniques, nappes analogiques irréelles, field recordings craquelants et acoustique élégiaque (piano d’un autre temps et trémolos de cordes presque post-rock sur Sunken Anchor, contrebasse inquiétante sur Khaypudyr Bay...). Odes aux rives crevassées du Pôle Nord où l’eau et la glace naissent et meurent en permanence, Northern Gulfs s’inscrit pleinement dans la charte esthétique du label italien mais comme souvent avec Glacial Movements, la contemplation fascinée a tôt fait de tourner à la claustrophobie, et des rêveries scintillantes de High Tide ou Home Port aux errances presque angoissantes de Low Tide et Kara Sea la frontière est souvent aussi mince et fragile qu’une couche de glace sur l’océan arctique.INDIE ROCK MAGAZINE

Hätte Brian Eno sein 1978er Album nicht “Music For Films” genannt, vielleicht wäre dieser schwierig zu handhabende und schwammige Begriff “Cinematographic Music” nie als Pseudogenre durch die Gassen geirrt. Dabei rumpeln auf sehr unscharfe Weise Musik, Sprache und Bild zusammen, hinzu kommt noch dass sich die Filmindustrie lieber mit Standartwerklern wie Herren Zimmer in die Köpfe des Publikums hämmert, als sich einer wirklich intelligenten und starken Musik zu bedienen, wie sie hier von Yair Elazar Glotman vorliegt. “Northern Gulfs” ist “Ideal Score” um es mal mit einem anderen Aufkleber zu probieren, die sieben Tracks darauf produzieren ein nicht alzu dunkles aber durchaus angebrochenes Stückchen Kino im Schädel. Das italienische Imprint Glacial Movements unter Alessandro Tedeschi hat schon einige namhafte Artists wie Celer, Pjusk und Loscil unterm Schirm, Glotman ist da ein wunderbarer Neuzugang.NO ONES BOOKS

Glacial Movements - the italian label specializing in "ambient and electronic arctic soundscapes" - is one of those labels where the quality of the releases is so consistently in line with their original mission that they can almost be ordered blindly. Quality glacial music guaranteed! "Northern Gulfs ", the debut release of Yair Elazar Glotman, is no exception to that rule.The six tracks of this album are "a journey through the arctic gulfs in the north seas".Often, the bleak arctic landscapes are an inspiration for a minimalistic approach, but Glotman's music is different - and full of surprises.Studying classical Double-Bass and Electroacoustic Composition at the Jerusalem Music Academy, and the Art and Media program at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, has resulted in a broad-minded musical view, "exploring the gap between sound art and contemporary music".Merging electro-acoustic experiments with acoustic instruments and field recordings, "Northern Gulfs " does not simply enter drone territory, but delivers carefully crafted and adventurous sound sculptures.Music with many layers, that can be enjoyed on many different levels.AMBIENT BLOG

Yair Elazar Glotman debiutuje materiałem nagranym dla Glacial Movements – labelu opisującego miejsca zapomniane przez człowieka. Za swoją misję Włosi przyjęli próbę przywrócenia pierwotnej jedności między człowiekiem a naturą. Już taki zarys pozwala domyślać się zawartości krążka artysty dotychczas zajmującego się instalacjami i rzeźbami dźwiękowymi.W otwarciu z intro szelestów i trzasków wyłania się w końcu żywa gitara akustyczna. Prosta melodia ładnie wpisuje się w elektroniczne tło uzupełnione jeszcze nagraniami terenowymi i wyraźnie nakreśla, czego można spodziewać się po reszcie albumu. Yair Elazar Glotman upodobał sobie stonowany cyfrowy hałas, skrzypienie, szumy, w które ubiera analogowy ambient i okazjonalne organiczne instrumenty. Pomysł o tyle ciekawy, o ile mało nowatorski, o czym przekonać można się w mało oryginalnej i angażującej opowieści o jednej z zatok Morza Barentsa.O ile jednak w pierwszej części płyty trudno doszukać się analogii do lodowców, które na banderę wzięło sobie włoskie wydawnictwo, o tyle centralne 20 minut produkcji, duet „High-Low Tides” to już narracja bardzo sugestywna, żeby nie powiedzieć dosłowna. Przypływ to zrazu harmonia i ład, który psują niespokojne wysokie tony, zapowiedź tego, co ma przyjść za chwilę. Odpływ- wyraźna opowieść o pękającym lodzie, górach lodowych pchanych prądem na południe. Najdłuższa i najbardziej złożona na płycie kompozycja z czasem przybiera na intensywności i, bez taniego efekciarstwa, zajmuje, porywa przez ponad dziesięć minut.Brzmienie Yaira jest krystalicznie czyste. Krajobraz, który tworzy- całkowicie odhumanizowany, paradoksalnie, najbardziej ludzko brzmi zdezelowana huśtawka, która jakimś cudem odnalazła się w tych okolicach. Ale Northern Gulfs to medytacje krążące wokół środowiska tak pierwotnego, że wrogiego nie tylko człowiekowi, ale wszelkiemu życiu. Lektura dla gotowych na takie doświadczenie.NOWAMUZYKA.PL

You can kind of tell that Yair Elazar Glotman is a bass player — he has that fascination with deep, sustained sawtooth-wave sounds that tends to drive people to spend a lot of time playing an upright bass with a bow. The sounds that he has sculpted for this album, though, are much more complex than that: although these electroacoustic pieces define large and deep sonic spaces, those spaces contain microscopically tiny details — and although they tend to seem relatively static on the surface, they’re not actually static at all. Listen carefully, and you’ll be rewarded. (Listen on headphones with the volume up and you’ll be rewarded even more.).CD HOTLIST

This new release from this label is presented as 'a journey through the arctic gulfs in the north seas' and his composer is focused 'on experimental electroacoustic composition'. However, from my reviewing perspective, Yair Elazar Glotman is well into the current trend of electroacoustic music so it's something not literally 'experimental' (in fact, it's a form of music with an established form) but it's something challenging for someone that is not a fan of this genre. This is the kind of album that has to be listened with a curious ear to discover the small compositional choices used. The noisy field recordings of 'Sunken Anchor' gently opens this release with a quiet drone slowly developing the track until a guitar arpeggio and a cello closes the track. 'Khaypudyr Bay' is a track focused on small sounds juxtaposed and carefully posed in the sound space. 'High Tide' and 'Low Tide' are, as the titles suggest, two related track focused on small and evocative field recordings samples but developed in opposite way as, when the first track is a brighter one, the second is a more meditative one. 'Kara Sea' is almost melancholic in the development of the drones used a building block. 'Home Port' closes this release with a track constructed upon a small drone used as a loop and another used to develop the track in a evocative soundscape.Honestly speaking, this album is not a ground-breaking one but is something so carefully constructed and space oriented that is better enjoyed in a quiet environment using headphone to enjoy his textures. It's a pleasure to hear it.CHAIN DLK

A Berlino e dintorni, il nome di Yair Elazar Glotman ha guadagnato negli anni una notorietà, per quanto circoscritta all'ambiente avant, grazie alla grande quantità di installazioni multimediali e opere video proposte in location anche importanti. Meno noti sono i suoi trascorsi come musicista, attività principalmente divisa fra commissioni cinematografiche e sonorizzazioni di video-sculture nelle quali il credit al suo lavoro non è mai stato diffuso più di tanto. La gavetta alle spalle è tanta, insomma, ma fuori dalla natia Germania in pochi ne sono a conoscenza: fra quei pochi c'è probabilmente Alessandro Tedeschi, mente e propulsore di Glacial Movements, che al debutto di Glotman riserva uno spicchio importante di un catalogo in costante evoluzione. Non sorprende più di tanto, a dire il vero, che “Northern Gulfs” sia il racconto sonoro di un viaggio in non precisati mari del Nord, dai quali l'artista è tornato con una collezione di field recordings lavorati poi fino a divenire base per la realizzazione del disco. Scrosci d'acqua, rintocchi di stalattiti, spirate di vento amalgamate da sottili e timidi disturbi digitali, un fondale sopra il quale i ricami sono invece affidati a limpide distese analogiche. L'origine glitch dell'arte di Glotman si unisce dunque a una svolta prettamente elettroacustica, ponendo l'isolazionismo ambientale a comun denominatore in sei lunghe digressioni fra sottili lamine di ghiaccio, immersioni nel gelido mare, impressioni di isole abbandonate alla nebbia e prive di segni vitali.I titoli portano alla luce qualche dettaglio in più sulle ambientazioni: “Khaypudyr Bay” prende il nome dall'omonima baia russa, luogo decisamente inospitale dove la tundra fa da padrona assieme a foche e orsi polari, disegnata servendosi quasi esclusivamente di disturbi e sample. Su una falsariga simile si collocano anche “High Tide” e “Low Tide”, la prima dominata da un lento e morbido moto ondoso di droni in evoluzione, la seconda lasciata alla dittatura di grovigli glaciali. “Karen Sea” - luogo non ben identificato dalle parti della Russia orientale – dipinge un battello spoglio delle sue vele alla deriva fra iceberg e isole, senza concedere al suo cammino la vista di un singolo raggio di sole.Solo in apertura e in chiusura sembra essere data una chance alla sopravvivenza di una qualsiasi forma di vita: gli arpeggi ciclici di “Sunken Anchor” sono però presto avvolti da una coltre di nebbia, quasi a segnare l'ingresso in un mondo parallelo, dal quale il notturno sereno di “Home Port” illude di allontanarsi, trovando in realtà finalmente un adattamento alle sue drastiche condizioni climatiche. Resta da sottolineare ancora una volta la lungimiranza del marchio Glacial Movements nel dare alle stampe prodotti di altissima qualità su un concept ormai assodato da tempo, che molti sarebbero stati pronti ben presto a dare per esaurito. Per Glotman, invece, si tratta di un inizio importante, un primo passo che non può che lasciar ben sperare.ONDA ROCK

The album Northern Gulfs by Yair Elazar Glotman comes and goes in rich swells. The music — entirely free of vocals, and essentially of melodies for that matter — is built less from notes than from images. These are sounds, of course, but each sound is so specific, so distinct from each other, that they individually have the quality of images. They’re memorable less for their sonic content than for their narrative content, the place they hold in memory, the stories they propose. On the track “High Tide,” for example, the constituent sounds include the sawing of wood, the creaking of a rope and a slat pier, some high-pitched ring tones, insectoid percussion that could be a cigarette lighter failing to make good on its sole responsibility, and an underlying bass tone with a somber cast. There are six Northern Gulfs tracks in all, each with its own collection of images. Some are more tonal, others more entranced with sourced field recordings, like the scatter of pebbles and echoed bell on “Low Tide” or the ratcheted gears in “Home Port.” Each of these elements, whether tonal or sourced, is entirely self-defined. Each may individually have been processed — stretched, given texture, looped mechanically, hushed — but they never seem to merge in any given track. They are like semi-opaque cards in a deck being constantly shuffled. “Khaypudyr Bay,” named for a spot in the brittle cold of northwest Russia, features a delicate counterpoint of clipped signals, buried deep in a warm, gray hum. Much of the record retains that muted malevolence, but it reaches an extreme on “Kara Sea,” named for the Siberian waters, which feels truly tortured, its elements including backward masked bits that suggest regret, as well as harsh winds and a haunting organ.DISQUIET

J’aime l’électronique expérimentale ambiante qui allie raffinement et épuration sans tomber dans une esthétique clinique. Sur Northern Gulfs, Yair Elazar Glotman (un Berlinois) touche toutes les cibles et évite la plupart des écueils. Les six morceaux à thématique marine ET arctique combine enregistrement de terrain, travail électroacoustique fin, suggestions mélodiques et harmoniques diaphanes, le tout agencé en un voyage qui berce sans endormir. I live ambient experimental electronica that blends refinement with purity, without getting into something clinically cold. On Northern Gulfs, Berlin-based Yair Elazar Glotman manages to hit all the targets and avoid most of the pitfalls. His six pieces – all variations on two joint themes: sea and arctic – combine field recordings, sophisticated electroacoustic treatments, and ethereal melodic and harmonic suggestions, all assembled into an aural journey that lulls you without putting you to sleep.MONSIEUR DELIRE