Given ambient's fundamental nature, the recent
deluge in “deep-sea ambient” recordings doesn't come as a total
surprise though it's hard not to take note of the works' synchronicity.
Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic, which arguably kick-started the genre, has been joined in recent times by Willits + Sakamoto's Ocean Fire, Mathieu Ruhlmann and Celer's Mesoscaphe, and even Fennesz's Black Sea Varde
by Norwegian composer Tommy Jansen (aka Elegi) advances the genre by
positioning itself midway between conventional music-making and
evocative sound-design, with funereal arrangements for piano, musical
saw, percussion, and violin on the one side and a rich mix of creaks,
rustlings, slams, and natural sounds on the other. (admittedly more emblematic of the genre by title than actual sound).

The background story for the recording concerns the discovery by a 1912
Antarctic search party of the frozen remains of Captain Robert Scott
and two companions who were found inside sleeping bags inside a tent,
the three dead for eight months at the time of discovery. Jansen's
sound design powerfully conveys moods and feelings appropriate to the
subject matter: the isolation and creeping terror the three men might
have experienced as they stared death in the face, gradually realizing
what their fate would inevitably be as they gazed upon the barren and
unforgiving frozen landscape around them. During the unsettling,
fifty-four minute work, one hears excavation sounds of digging through
ice and snow, moaning winds drifting across the desolate plains, the
corroded tape recording of a speaking voice, channel-switching on the
radio between melodramatic classical music and clarinet playing, with
all such materials augmented by muffled strings, piano, static, and
crackle. The four musicians Jansen recruited for the recording make
strong contributions: often theremin-like in tone, Dan Cantrell's
musical saw deepens the material's mysterious character, while the
bowed creak of Ronny Sveen's double bass suggests a huge ship slowly
rocking against blocks of ice in “Svanesang.” “Skrugard” is rather
similar to Bryars' writing in the way that Meredith Yayanos's violin
sinuously navigates its way through the atmospheric gloom “tonmeister”
Jansen sculpts around her. Yayanos's plaintive violin also charts a
course through a haunted mass of spectral tones in “Råk.”

Listeners familiar with Sistereis
will recognize that the funereal melancholy of the first Elegi release
remains solidly in place on this second outing, prompting one to wonder
what particular subject matter Jansen will take on for the third
installment in his projected trilogy. Whatever it turns out to be, one
presumes that it will perpetuate his affinity for classical-influenced
“gloom” ambient.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

It's possible that Norwegian musician and studio engineer Tommy Jansen has any number of hobbies, but the one flagged up in the publicity for this, his debut album, is wreck diving. Fair enough: collecting rare vinyl or playing board games wouldn't inspire the sense of crushing pressure and deep, slow moving danger that he achieves with Sistereis.....

The seafaring link is made explicit by the title – a term referring to a ship's final voyage and by moody monochrome packaging featuring images of lighthouses and fictionalised ships' logs recording mysterious deaths. The music inhabits similar terrain to that of founder Erik K Skodvin's own Svarte Greiner, with acoustic instrumentation electronically shaped into mood pieces that draw back from the narrative arcs of post-rock, but lie to heavy on the ear to be considered Ambient. A restless foreground of rustling, breath and footsteps evokes human intimacy while slow piano lines reminiscent of Max Richter's The Blue Notebooks summon up sepia-toned decay and nostalgia.....

All this is dwarfed by an undercurrent of low frequencies which seemingly herald impending doom, while the metallic squeaking on "Fyrtårnet part 1" and swelling drones, like tide-wracked timbers, suggests that at any moment a ragged sailor's skull might lurch into view. "Interbellum", whose glassy, drifting harmonics echo medieval church music, is one of a few tracks where the Pascals decrease and the murk lightens. But, for the most part, Sistereis revels in its oppressive, whale-sized atmospherics, and rightly so.....

Abi Bliss

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BOOMKAT

In the last year or so the Miasmah label (run and curated by Deaf Center's Erik Skodvin) has become one of the most respected, well loved and bestselling labels offering up the kind of home listening so popular with so many of you. The catalogue has been pristine - with releases from Greg Haines and Rafael Anton Irisarri in particular encapsulating that indefinable magic that happens when modern classical sensibilities are filtered through the hands and ears of producers with a wider experimental horizon. But it's this latest album from Norway's Tommy Jansen (aka Elegi) that stands out as the label's most startling, original and breathtaking release to date. Jansen spends his time wreck-diving - a pursuit which involves deep-sea diving into shipwrecks, exploring the forgotten graveyards of another time. The album's title 'Sistereis' even refers to this pursuit; it is the word for a ship's final voyage before it sinks and this haunted, waterlogged theme is transferred beautifully into the music itself. I'm sure you've all dunked your head under water when swimming before, and listened to the sounds of the surrounding area as they filter through litres and litres of chlorinated liquid; this muffled, bubbling mystery is apparent throughout 'Sistereis', the whole album coming across like a radio transmission from beneath the sea. In fact, the album could easily be the follow-up to Svarte Greiner's absolutely epic 'Knive', an album which set the bar for the steadily growing 'acoustic doom' movement, and where 'Knive' was akin to a murderous venture into the dark woods, 'Sistereis' is a similarly bloody sub-aquatic voyage. It could be almost puerile to mention the words 'cinematic' or name-drop Angelo Badalamenti yet again, but it's never been more appropriate; Tommy Jansen creates a damp and half-seen world of his own with tempered electronics, decaying accordion sounds, deep resonating cellos and layer upon layer of collected field recordings (many taken from his deep sea explorations). It's almost like listening to the ancient ghosts of Viking long-boats, lost Victorian cruise-liners or swarthy Pirate ships, replete with rattling chains and creaking bows, yet this isn't a purely dark and depressing experience, there are glimmers of light and hope between the scratches and scrapes, a sense that this is a record which reveres history rather than being frightened of it. 'Sistereis' is another crucial part of the steadily expanding Miasmah catalogue, and proof that the label is quickly becoming one of the most essential on the planet - prepare yourself for a foggy trip into mysterious climes, it's one you won't regret taking, even if you never return! Essential purchase.

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THE SILENT BALLET

One of my earliest and most vivid memories is being beneath the murky water of a lake. The water was so thick with algae and cloudy matter that I couldn't see my feet below. I was a poor swimmer and , despite my feeble attempts, I remember slipping helplessly into the darkness around me.  I thrashed at the bottom, my young limbs battling the water around me in an effort to reach the surface.  Then I remember, most clearly, the surface of the water above me and the beauty I neglected to realize in my panic.  I saw the summer sunbeams breaking upon the surface of the churning, muddy, green water littered with sediment.  In that moment, captivated by the beauty of this experience, I was transfixed and completely calm.  There were years in that moment and I felt I could linger there forever.

Norway's Tommy Jansen (aka Elegi) album Sistereis on the Miasmah label (run by Deaf Center's Erik Skodvin) encapsulates the feeling of the submersion described above with distant, ambient and often brooding sounds.  The ten tracks fit together seamlessly, creating a narrative tangled with a myriad of haunting aquatic images.  The album's title follows its theme; a word used for a ship's dire final voyage. 

The record is the first in a dark trilogy with each element based around historical events and times. Jansen, a classically trained musician and experienced sound engineer, has created an album with concentrated attention to a congruent theme with specific intentions for the listener. Smothered, though unambiguous, sounds conjure images of sinking ships, drowning orchestras, isolation and painful reflection on the ghosts of the past.  The ebb and flow of each track is ushered by minimal, lingering organ and piano drenched with sadness, and deep sonorous cello passages that undulate through the background. Muffled, fading aquatic noises of docked boats beaten by waves, the creaking of old planks, dripping, and distant gulls are also meshed with numerous electronic elements throughout.

Though Sistereis lacks a specific melody, there is an obvious theme and direction that Jansen points us in that is neither banal nor bromidic, but dynamic and subject to change in intensity at various points. Each track on the disc has a seamless flow of emotionality that takes the listener into the dank water.  The listener does not become a voyeur but almost a traveler, an active member, of the waterlogged triumphs and tragedies narrated by the album.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Stephanie Johnson)

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FOXY DIGITALIS

One of the most intense experiences of my – admittedly rather unspectacular – life was when I went snorkeling off the shores of Bali and Jordan and suddenly saw the blurred but dark silhouette of sunken ships lying on the ground of the ocean. The water's constant movement seemed to let the wrecks shiver, an uncanny coldness seemed to evaporate from the ships' remains. It was an encounter with the sublime that virtually stopped my breath. I never dared to go down, not even on one of the blatantly advertised wreck-diving trips.

Tommy Jansen does dare to go down. And when he explores the shipwrecks, he records the sounds of the deep sea to capture the atmosphere of abandoned ships, human vanity and beautiful decay. On "Sistereis", his debut album as Elegi on the always fascinating Miasmah imprint, he puts layer upon layer of these field-recordings (which are, of course, anything but, if you take the term literally) and adds modern classical instrumentation: ghostly piano melodies, droning cello and subtle electronics. It is by no means a surprise that the resulting subaqua-concept-album is put out by Erik Skodvin's label, as "Sistereis" comes very close to the acoustic doom that Skodvin invented a few months ago under his Svarte Greiner moniker. In fact, "Sistereis" intensifies Skodvin's approach in that it is even less complaisant, more cinematic and more concrete when it comes to the images that the tracks conjure in the listener. In other words, "Sistereis" is the missing link between Wolfmangler, Xela's "Dead Sea" and Svarte Greiner.

It has to be said, however, that surpassing its forerunners in narrative extremism and borderline-field-recording-exoticism doesn't make "Sistereis" the better album. Greiner's "Knive" album still remains unrivalled in uncanniness, mostly due to the fundamental openness of tracks like "The Boat Was My Friend" or "The Dining Table". The more concrete moments (that horrible sawing in "My Feet, Over There", the limping steps in "The Black Dress") got even more attention, standing out as traumatic landmarks in an eerie dreamscape. "Sistereis", however, doesn't want to tell a story, but its story, the story of a ship's final voyage (the meaning of the Norwegian album title) before it sinks. That's still scary enough and Skodvin's artwork is a congenial supplement, but after repeated listens there is still a sense that Jansen doesn't quite make the most of the superb material he has at hand. That said, "Sistereis" is still a singular experience and it's uniqueness should make it an absolute must for anyone interested in modern classical composition, doom, or electronic ambient.

Rating: 8/10 (Jan- Arne Sohns)

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MAPSADAISICAL

A release by an artist going under the name of Elegi on the Miasmah label was highly unlikely to be a set of Disney covers, was it? I think this (highly rational) prejudice may have coloured my first exposure to Sistereis. I swear I spent an hour picturing squealing puppies being taped to the deck of a sinking ship. I couldn't imagine wanting to listen to it again. I did listen to it again though, whilst walking at dusk through an alien park in a foreign town.  From the second "Despotiets Vesen" sneaked (snuck?) from Deathprod vaults (think Treetop Drive) to the moment "Spill for Galeriet" counted down to the end of its existence somewhere on a gloomy grassy heath, I found myself warming to the record's icy charms.  The immaculateness of the execution (bad choice of word, oh those poor puppies!) can't fail to impress; every brush of string, every breath of brass seems placed there just so, and just so as to interfere with the more nervous parts of my nervous system.

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ONDAROCK

Non si conosce granché di Mr. Tommy Jansen aka Elegi. Tra le poche notizie, apprese sul solito Myspace, la nazionalità norvegese, la sua passione per le immersioni subacquee in cerca di relitti e altresì che "Sistereis" (termine che indica proprio l'ultimo viaggio di una nave prima di affondare) si presenta come primo capitolo di una fantomatica "Trilogy Of Doom", di cui sembrerebbe già pronto in rampa di lancio un seguito. Poi? Che il disco esce per una delle etichette più interessanti al momento, la Miasmah di Erik Skodvin (Deaf Center), sugli scudi nei primi mesi del 2007 per gli ottimi lavori di Greg Haines e Rafael Anton Irisarri.
Ora, dato per nota di colore il mistero che aleggia su questo singolare personaggio, avrete sicuramente capito che si parla di ambient music, di quell'ambient plumbea, a tratti opprimente, con nette e benvenute derive verso la contemporanea. Sì, insomma, il classico dischetto leggero da ascoltare sotto l'ombrellone...

Scherzi a parte, pare ormai evidente, e non solo dal presente album in verità, che il linguaggio Type Records - cui le release Miasmah si ricollegano per motivi "genealogici" oltre che stilistici - continua a fare proseliti, ed Elegi ne cristallizza al meglio gli stilemi. Ciò si realizza in un suono complesso, giocato sulla stratificazione, sull'incastro di elementi eterogenei, siano essi acustici, elettronici, o addirittura concreti. L'iniziale "Despoties Vezen" come pure la successiva "Fyrtårnet Part 1" forniscono immediatamente precise linee guida in tal senso, con atmosfere evocative attraversate da fruscii di sottofondo piuttosto inquietanti. Sensazione ancor più angosciosa lungo gli oltre tre minuti in apnea rumoristica di "Skumring", a doppiare le soundtrack orrorifiche di Xela.

Se da un lato appare chiaro il debito nei confronti di esperienze post-industriali, ravvisabile nel ricorso a processi di sintesi e decontestualizzazione, non si può tuttavia negare che il buon Jensen riesca a trovare una via alquanto peculiare alla sua sperimentazione. Così la maggior parte dei pezzi rifuggono da una concezione lineare in cui la musica prende forma via via per addizione, sposando invece l'idea di una gestalt sonora, di un tutt'uno indipendente dalla somma algebrica delle parti.

"Dauingene", "Sistereis", "Fyrtårnet Part 3" sono fotografie di paesaggi, certo oscuri, ma di una magnificenza indicibile, dove la bellezza del particolare cede il proscenio alla pienezza scenografica della visione globale. Tra le poche eccezioni, "Time Lapse", costruita sull'accumulazione progressiva di frammenti "concreti" intorno a una ben distinguibile linea melodica di piano, e l'impalpabile, "Interbellium", splendidamente inebriata da brezze fennsziane… per una endless darkness.
Per avventurarsi in un viaggio mentale dalla destinazione sconosciuta.

Rating 7.5/10 (Antonio Ciarletta)

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TEXTURA

Norwegian Tommy Jansen (aka Elegi) likes to wreck-dive, a hobby that helps lend Sistereis its distinctive aura (the title refers to a ship's final voyage). Jansen incorporated reels of underwater recordings he made during dives—supposedly, he believes the reels capture the "ghosts of the shipwrecks"—into the album's ten pieces, giving the album an idiosyncratic and unique field recordings character. Jansen typically couples piano and cello figures to the clank of a ship's rusty chains ("Skumring") and the shuffle of skeletons dragging their bones along the deck ("Time Lapse").

Much of the album's 'musical' character centers on the cello's deep groan, though even it often drifts in a woozy waver that mimics the ocean's slow rocking motion. The material might best be classified as strongly atmospheric, field-enhanced soundscaping augmented by neo-classical compositional writing. A mood of slowly unfurling dread is sustained throughout despite the shift in focal point from cello to piano, organ, and harmonium. Representative of the album, "Despotiets Vesen" shrouds minimal piano melodies in dark string ambiance. In the title piece, the low moan of a clarinet resounds against haunted creaks, clanks, and shuffles while, in "Spill for Galleriet," the voice of an old woman, perhaps recalling her husband's doomed voyage from a decade long past, brings the album to a suitably haunted close. Mention should be made of "Interbellum," a meditative setting of gleaming church organ tones which is especially lovely. One of the areas where Jansen most succeeds is in his original evocation of the sea; rather than literalizing it by deploying clichés like splashing waves, Jansen opts for a thoroughly submersive approach, such that one feels as if one is floating through the murky depths, scanning for life-forms or sunken ships. The cello-generated creaks deepen that feel, and even sometimes suggest a whale's murmur ("Fyrtårnet part 3"). Though not perhaps designed to be heard as such, Elegi's Sistereis makes for a perfect companion to Xela's The Dead Sea.

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Ether Real

Pour son premier album, le Norvégien Elegi trouve refuge sur Miasmah, label lui-même norvégien et tout à fait en résonance avec l'ambient teintée de néo-classique que nous propose Tommy Jansen.

Effectivement, dès le début de Sistereis, on retrouve ces ambiances déjà croisées à plusieurs reprises ces derniers mois : accords de synthés formant une nappe en arrière-plan, quelques micro-triturations métalliques ou type bruits de pas et notes éparses de piano au premier plan. De même, on a le droit à ces inquiétantes lignes de violoncelle accompagnées de grincements (Fyrtårnet Part 1, Fyrtårnet Part 2, le morceau-titre) ou à ces étranges sonorités issues d'un cuivre (Dauingene) à même d'en rajouter dans la dimension légèrement anxiogène de l'ensemble. Dès lors, face à cette accumulation de matériaux déjà bien connus, qu'attendre d'un tel album, hormis, et ce n'est déjà pas rien, une interprétation probante capable de faire naître une certaine émotion ?

De toute évidence, Elegi fait preuve, sur Sistereis, de qualités indéniables : capacité à ne pas trop en faire, à toucher sans en rajouter, à agencer avec habileté les différents éléments utilisés, à se faire aussi convaincant sur quatre minutes que sur huit. Pour autant, on ne peut s'empêcher de regretter une forme d'absence de prise de risque dans ce choix d'un style musical déjà bien balisé, regrets qui altèrent notre jugement sur un disque qui, quoiqu'il en soit, demeure agréable, notamment pour les lecteurs pas encore rompus à ce genre musical.

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MAUMAU UNDERGROUND

Una vez más, el sello Miasmah viene directo a satisfacer nuestros deseos de sonidos clásicos oscuros, acuáticos y solmenes. Este label comandado con mano maestra por Erik Skodvin (mitad de los también radicales Deaf Center) está mostrando un talento innato para dar con artistas anónimos, modestos y pequeños capaces de autografiar obras perturbadoras, extremadamente técnicas y a su vez conmovedoras, a medio camino entre el aislacionismo, la composición contemporánea, la música de cámara y el ambient más orgánico. El último de sus apadrinados es el también noruego Tommy Jansen, a partir de ahora ya conocido por todos nosotros como Elegi, un personaje misterioso y sombrío que invierte buena parte de su tiempo en el submanirismo, el buceo, la amnea y, sobre todo, la inspección y estudio de los barcos abandonados en la inemsidad del gran azul. El dato no debe quedarse como una anécdota exótica, sino que adquiere relevancia primordial una vez has escuchado este sobrecogedor "Sistereis". Por momentos uno tiene la impresión de que Jansen ha compuesto gran parte de las canciones sumergido en la profundidad del océano, en ese ambiente de oscuridad comfortable, silencio profundo, soledad épica y tristeza bajo presión al que debe enfrentarse cada vez que se enfunda el traje de neopreno y desaparece del mundanal ruido. Elegi une en su ideal sonoro instrumentos como el chello o el piano y creaciones electrónicas a partir de sonidos y texturas que se diría que él mismo ha grabado y sampleado de las profundidades del mar. El efecto, la sensación, es radical e inolvidable: una experiencia incomparable hoy por hoy en el epicentro de los artistas neoclásicos que sabe conjugar la misantropía del estudio con la grandeza de la naturaleza escondida en un trabajo meticuloso, complejo, ambicioso y atrevido que deja huella. Disco esencial. David Broc

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CALEIDOSCOOP

Welk label de maat bepaalt voor melancholische kwaliteitsmuziek wisselt bij mij nog wel eens. Vroeger is het 4ad label een graadmeter en later labels als Kranky en Type. Sinds een tijd krijgen ze zware concurrentie van Miasmah, dat gerund wordt door Erik Skodvin (Deaf Center, Svarte Greiner). Na uitmuntende releases van Greg Haines, Encre, Rafael Anton Irisarri en de verzamelaar Silva is er nu weer een prachtige vijfde cd uit op het label. Sistereis is het debuut van Elegi, het project van de Noor Tommy Jansen. Grote hobby van deze Noorse melancholicus is wrakduiken. Het is dan ook niet verwonderlijk dat zijn muziek de desolaatheid en mysterie van de grote dieptes van de zee in zich herbergt. Zoals je verwonderd je kunt laten imponeren door alles wat er onder water gebeurt, zo onderga je ook zijn muziek. Sistereis, dat ook zoiets betekent als de laatste reis van een schip naar de verdoemenis, is de eerste uit een "trilogie van doom". Het behoort tot het zogeheten akoestische doomgenre, dat zo typerend voor het label is. De muziek bestaat uit prachtige soms haast verstilde pianopassages, aangevuld met ambient, veldopnames, experimentele en klassiek klinkende geluiden. Waarmee de geluiden precies tot stand komen is op de piano na niet helemaal duidelijk, maar dat maakt de muziek alleen maar mysterieuzer. Dikwijls wordt de muziek rond de pianoklanken opgebouwd, maar tevens bestaan diverse stukken uit duistere drones met vermoedelijk een cello. Alsof je in het diepste punt van de oceaan zit, waar al het geluid een mysterie lijkt. Het desolate en melancholische geheel is een betoverende mix van Giacinto Scelsi, The Caretaker, Arvo Pärt, Earth, Xela, Deaf Center en het zijproject Svarte Greiner, verpakt in een David Lynch-achtige productie. Het zorgt keer op keer voor een adembenemende diepgang en onbeschrijflijke schoonheid. Eén van de mooiste platen van 2007 tot nu toe. Jan Willem Broek

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MUSIQUE MACHINE

Sistereis carves out an atmosphere that evokes ill fated ocean bound trips, faded photos of long dead loved ones pulled from sea salt depths, and eerier ghost ships cutting their way across dusk purpled skies. It mixes together slow dieing beautiful piano textures, sinister jazzy touches, doomy sea salt bass rumbles and sun bleached modern classical tones.  All under washed by creaking, cull call and all maner of eerier noise matter. Despotiets Vesen opens the album in fine eerier dead-body-floating form, mixing together haunted and pretty melancholy piano folds with creaking, footsteps and creepy organic sound fare, coming off like some of Ulver's piano led soundtrack work. Later on Fyrtärnet Part 2 ushers us on board the deck of a corpse strewn creaking fishing boat, birds pick out there sky set eyes, crabs scuttling in their lulling mouths, and you can hear distant laughter and lost hope screams from down bellow. The whole album does evoke such potent and often dead bound feelings, even the sunniest day seems some how surreally sinister and washed out as this plays out its life.
An excellent boat full of gloomy sea bound dread, which mangers to be varied and very competent, especially when you take in to account this is the project first release.

Rating: 4/5 (Roger Batty) 

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DE:BUG

Ein Opfer der Obsession. Tommy Jansen taucht in seiner Freizeit nach Schiffwracks und stellt den Kampf auf See um Leben und Tod ins Zentrum seines Debut-Albums, das auf Miasmah nicht nur bestens aufgehoben ist, sondern für das Label nach all dem Wohlklang von Rafael Irisarri auch ein verschrobenes, deutlich darkeres Kapitel aufschlägt. Norwegische Schwermut. Zu düster gestrichenen Drones mischt Jansen Fieldrecordings von knarrenden Planken, ächzender Takelage und dem kompletten Universum anderer Geräusche, die man auf See hören kann. Immer wieder aufgebrochen von ruhigen Piano-Passagen entwickelt sich ein dichtes Netz aus Sound, bei dem man nie weiß, ob man sich jetzt beruhigend fallen lassen kann, oder doch lieber weiter auf der Hut bleiben sollte. Aber Jansen kann noch mehr. Plötzlich dröhnt aus dem Unterdeck ein trauerndes Kammerorchester und dann, es ist mittlerweile sehr neblig, kommen doch noch die Toten an Bord. Ein unglaubliches Hörspiel. Rating: 5/5 (Thaddi)

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HISSIG

Den femte og hittil siste utgivelsen på Miasmah kommer i form av debutalbumet til norske Tommy Jansen, som i tillegg til å være musiker også driver med vrakdykking på fritiden. En aktivitet forbeholdt de relativt få, men opplevelsen kan lett forestilles seg: Den dørgende stillheten, sollyset som flimrer over det morkne treverket eller det overgrodde metallet og vannet som hele tiden glir forbi utgjør et skue som selv i bildeform innbyr til merkelig tvetydige følelser. De gamle skipvrakene er riktignok fotogeniske, men skjønnheten har en tragisk undertone, og man får en følelse av å være et sted hvor tiden har stått stille, en uvelkommen gjest i mennesketomme ruiner nå befolket av fisk og sjødyr. Grunnen til at jeg dveler såpass lenge ved dette emnet, er at temaet ligger så dypt forankret i Sistereis at det nærmest er uatskillelig fra selve musikken. En gjennomført dunkel stemning gjennomsyrer alt fra artistnavn til coverdesign, og CD-heftet inneholder sørgmodige, svakt deformerte bildecollager og uhyggelige journalfragmenter. Stemningen er med andre ord vel etablert lenge før man setter skiva i spilleren. Det lydmessige på skiva kan med litt god fantasi høres som musikk Jansen har reddet opp til overflaten under dykkingen sin, de siste sørgesangene til en gjeng skabbete sjømenn fullt klar over den endelige destinasjonen som venter skuta deres. Enkle pianomelodier danderes over klagende cellotoner, akkompagnert av en subtile elektroniske elementer og skritt, klirring og andre lyder av menneskelig aktivitet som merkelig nok bare gjør det hele mer ensomt og forstyrrende. Alt dette er vevet inn i en dunkel lydtåke, som på en utmerket måte klarer å gi det hele en maritim følelse uten å inkludere de klisjeerte opptakene av måker og bølgeslag, samt å tilføre musikken en foreldet eim som står til de gammeldagse melodiene og instrumenteringen. Skiva er for det aller meste instrumental, og kommer over som en besnærende mikstur av klassisk og mørk ambient. Bare ved en anledning dukker en menneskelig stemme opp i miksen, da Jansen lar en monolog av en gammel kvinne avslutte skiva på en vemodig, men gåsehudfremkallende måte. Kort sagt er Sistereis en bra gjennomført stemningskive, og musikken er av et så høyt kaliber at det blir givende på andre måter enn som ren stemningsmusikk. Temaet skiva er basert på innbyr til refleksjon, og måten musikken maner fram kolliderende stemninger og følelser gjør det til en perfekt plate å drømme seg bort til. Det lille rykket man får når skivas femtifire minutter er over og man plutselig blir dratt opp til overflaten igjen tyder på at du har gjennomgått en reise som vil sitte i deg lenge, og som du vil komme til å ta flere ganger.

Emil Øversveen

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DOTSHOP Dark modern classical meets acoustic- doom meets bone- chilling blood drenched Lynchian soundtracks. ACOUSTIC-DOOM SOUNDTRACK - SUGGESTIVE, MOODY, BEAUTIFUL, SCARY *** Every release on Erik Skodvin's Miasmah label could be the better soundtrack to any serious spiritual mystic thriller, horror, sf or paranormal-induced drama. Hollywood should get rid of their too many old boring established soundtrack-makers with dated plug-ins and hockey-haircuts. Hey, do the world a favour and go go go unravel these revelations instead. Miasmah and Skodvin's Deaf Center are one of the frontrunners of a new generation of truly gifted makers of under-the-skin mood music, post-classical compositions and post-ambience soundscapes.

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SMALLFISH

Deaf Center's Miasmah label really does operate below the radar! I knew nothing about this until the day before it came in. Once again, you'll be unsurprised to hear, it's an immaculate album that concentrates very much on the beautiful side of contemporary leftfield music. Elegi delivers a series of luscious pieces that are classical, modern, yet timeless and full of a charmingly mournful sounds. Long, deep string sounds and melodic piano motifs are layered together with a melancholy undertone and some lovely sculptured tones. Essentially this is another exquisite album really and fans of the previous releases on the label will simply adore it. Recommended. 

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RATATOSK

Elegi is Tommy Jansen en de ambient die hij creëert wordt ook wel acoustic doom genoemd, wat omschreven wordt als een samenkomst van de donkere kanten van modern klasssiek, black metal en Angelo Badalamenti-achtige soundtracks. En geloof mij, dat is schitterend!

"Sistereis" is een zeer sfeervol album waarop geen mindere tracks aan te wijzen zijn. De muzikale trip waar Erik ons langs leidt is hypnotiserend, wonderschoon en allesomvattend. De nummers glijden soepel in elkaar over en dit is zo'n album dat in je cd-speler lijkt vast gelijmd: ik luister het album meerdere keren per dag en het album lijkt geschikt voor zeer veel verschillende gelegenheden: om rustig mee wakker te worden, om op de achtergrond aan te zetten bij een goed gesprek, om geconcentreerd te beluisteren in een donkere kamer en om bij in slaap te vallen. Echte uitschieters zijn voor mij de nummers 'Time Lapse' en 'Interbellum'.

In het sfeervol vormgegeven boekje staat een logboek-achtige verhandeling over een zeevaart. Het interessante is dat dit sterk bijdraagt aan de muzikale ervaring. Ik kan me wel eens irriteren aan muzikanten die instrumentaal werk afleveren en vervolgens middels tekst de sfeer proberen te bepalen. De teksten van Elegi las ik echter pas nadat ik het album meerdere malen intensief had beluisterd en in plaats van een vooropgelegde sfeer, verbreedt de tekstuele uitbreiding eerder de luisterervaring.

We zijn fan van Biosphere, we zijn fan van Objekt4. En Elegi schaart zich snel in dit rijtje.

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ONDEFIXE

Qui dit Elegi dit élégiaque, tel ce piano esseulé ouvrant ce bal mortifère, dialoguant avec des cordes d'un cinéma Lynchien souillé de sang séché. Sans détour, cette ouverture nous plonge dans les abysses d'un océan obscur, dans les fonds marins que le norvégien Tommy Jansen explore et pour lesquels il se passionne, allant même jusqu'à sampler ce qu'il peut y entendre. Tirant inspiration de ces territoires que la lumière ignore, Tommy tisse des ambiances claustrophobes, hantées de fantômes, faites de nappes et drones flippants, de mâts et coques qui craquent, de métaux qui claquent, de bulles de piano dépressif et de notes caverneuses (violoncelle, corne et mélodica basse fréquence ?). En cours de plongée, une once de clarté perce Interbellum de son doux méli-mélo de notes flûtées et cristallines. Mais ce rai de lumière furtif, cette unique et menue bulle d'oxygène nous replonge rapidement et définitivement dans ces immensités angoissantes regorgeant de cadavres.Parfait compagnon funèbre et ténébreux du Knive de Svarte Greiner, Sistereis n'a décidément rien d'accueillant ou de rassurant.

Rating: 6,5  (Sébastien Radiguet)

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SENTIREASCOLTARE

Eine Symphonie des Grauens ovvero A Simphony Of Horror  era il sottotitolo del primo leggendario Nosferatu di Murnau. A Simphony Of Horror  è anche una sorta di sottotitolo che Tommy Jansen, in arte Elegi, ha dato al suo primo disco. Sistereis è il parto artistico dell'ultimo guerriero gotico arruolato da Erik D. Svodkin. Concepito dopo numerosi viaggi in barca, nel pieno delle tempeste marine, al largo dei fiordi della penisola scandinava, Sistereis è un lavoro che si fa suggestionare dal mare e che condivide con l'ultimo disco di Xela un neppur tanto vago sentore di angoscia e fine imminente tra i flutti. Questione di venti e onde in tempesta, legni scricchiolanti, balugini di fantasmi e tetre architetture atmosferiche. Elegi è qui per rinfrescarci dalla calura estiva con un freddo e raggelato alito di morte. Come dicevamo non molto tempo fa, la scena del doom acustico e orchestrale del Nord Europa è in gran fermento e trova proprio nei Deaf Center e in Svarte Greiner le pietre miliari intorno a cui costruire una sequela di variazioni di registro intriganti e per il momento mai banali. Distribuite dall'etichetta stessa di Svodkin che è sempre più il mecenate e l'oscuro scrutatore di questo stil novo del gotico, le nuove pagine scure di Elegi vanno a ricongiungersi direttamente a quelle di Knive. E' musica che fa della suggestione la sua principale ragion d'essere. Preme per allestire un mood piuttosto che una struttura. Un disco dove i vuoti hanno più importanza dei pieni e che vive del rapporto contiguo tra rumori spartani presi dall'ambiente (fruscii, scricchiolii, crepitii, ecc.) e le sparute note di piano e organo che cercano di salvare una vaga idea di armonia. Svarte Greiner in questo è ancora più radicale, ma anche più grezzo. Elegi riesce a far convivere meglio gli elementi ma non raggiunge il maestro nella costruzione di insieme. Stiamo comunque li e di tutti i seguaci di Svodkin, Elegi è di sicuro il principale indiziato per una resa a lungo termine, infatti ha già fatto sapere che Sistereis è soltanto il primo disco di una trilogia del doom di cui si aspettano a questo punto, con trepidante e rabbrividente attesa, i successivi capitoli. Rating: 7/10  (Antonello Comunale )

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VITAMINIC

Tommy Jansen, in arte Elegi, dev'essere di certo una persona dall'animo cavernoso. Probabilmente figlio di un licantropo e di un mostro sottomarino, Tommy sprizza nebbia da tutti i pori.
Ne è una prova inconfutabile il suo album Sistereis, uscito di recente per Miasmah.
Esso compare ai nostri occhi sotto forma di inquietanti paesaggi vuoti, fatti macerie, di oggetti fracassati e semisepolti nella terra. Lo ascoltiamo in cuffia, abbandoniamo tutte le nostre attività, ci dedichiamo solo a quei suoni affascinanti ed ipnotici. Gli ultimi istanti del tramonto ci soprendono intenti a cercare un riparo. Il panico e successivamente il terrore si fanno largo nella nostra mente, mentre cala la notte.
Rimaniamo soli, senza un appiglio. C'è solo il suono lontano di un pianoforte, accompagnato da fruscii sempre più insistenti, claustrofobici. L'aria è densa di un'umidità soffocante.
Sistereis è un incubo lynchiano, un disco gemellabile con The Dead Sea di Xela.
Sedie che scricchiolano alle nostre spalle, trincee abbandonate, vascelli fantasma; sono solo alcune delle immagini che esso evoca.
Fuggiamo dietro un albero, nel disperato tentativo di evitare delle ombre minacciose.
Ne percepiamo la bellezza. Sono fluide. Grottesche. Sublimi.
Siamo dei bambini persi in una tavola in bianco e nero di Miyazaki.
Elegi sta contemplando immobile le sue creature. E' seduto comodamente su di una barchetta lignea che fluttua a mezz'aria, a qualche metro da noi.
E' innocuo. Ha lo sguardo beffardo di un genio.

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Arcana Noctis

"Sistereis" is the fantastic debut from Elegi, a project by Norwegian producer, composer, and recording engineer Tommy Jansen, who spends his free time as a shipwreck diver. Evidently, it is this hobby of his that is the inspiration behind "Sistereis". The name of the album itself is a word that refers to a ship's final voyage before sinking, and every song here perfectly captures that feeling. Full of atmosphere and mood, this is an incredibly haunting album that manages to transport the listener to another place – a gray world devoid of hope where the only thing in sight is miles and miles of open ocean, perpetually circling the icy waters at the top of the world. Occasionally, dark forms break the surface, but you are alone here in this alien world.
The album's brief opener, "Despotiets Vesen," starts off with subtle bowed strings which go together to make a simple yet effective chord. Trailing in the wake left by the strings are minimal piano notes, stark and wandering as if lost at sea. The melodies created are lonely, but not really hopeless; sad, but not really depressive. There is no discernable rhythm or beat at first, just pure expressionist wanderings. The strings fade away then swell back in, as if being pulled by the tide. Throughout all this play field recordings which sound like they were made at a dock. Wood creaks as the tide comes and goes and shivered breathing is heard as though made by someone who has just left the icy water. The piano very gradually builds with the strings, making slight crescendos and decrescendos, yet the piece as a whole never loses its atmosphere. Everything is fantastically put together, the piano melodies painting a picture of complete isolation against the backdrop made by the strings, which back away at just the right times to let the piano stand out and swell in perfectly at other times to create wonderful harmonies with it. This song alone could be stretched out to make up the entire album and it would still be amazing, but just as quickly as it comes, it fades away, leaving a lasting impression on the listener.
Not all the tracks on this album are as melodic as the opener, however. Many are very close to dark ambient music in terms of atmosphere, utilizing sounds more than melodies. "Fyrtårnet part 1", for example, starts with murky low-end strings (perhaps a cello or similar instrument) bowed into a droning smear of black slime which soon becomes the backdrop upon which odd creaks and high-end noises are applied. Odd alien noises drift in and out as though through a thick fog accompanied by metallic grating noises. "Fyrtårnet" parts 2 & 3 are similar odysseys, equally dark and icy, unsettling and foreign.
"Time Lapse", the standout track on "Sistereis", is equally as fascinating as the album's opener, yet perhaps slightly better due to its longer length, more detailed composition, and richer textures. The piece starts briefly with recordings of what sounds like someone searching through their belongings – footsteps, taps against wood, paper sheets being flipped through, a box opening, etc. Perhaps it's a person getting their bare essentials before hurriedly leaving somewhere for good, or maybe something else – a captain looking through old photos as his ship sinks. A few seconds into the piece, after the first taps of the field recordings are heard, the piano comes in. It starts off subtly at first – delicate, single note lines that add a very interesting melodic depth to the piece, occasionally being treated with very subtle shimmery noises. Soon, lower notes ease in smoothly beneath the piano melody, creating beautiful, lonely chords. The ambience gets thicker and thicker – background noises that sound like brushes being scraped across a snare drum go together with the music to create an almost jazzy feel. Though dark and lonely, it feels strangely peaceful, too. This piece sounds less like a lament of one's current situation and more like a celebration of the past. It is like a captain sinking with his ship and accepting his fate, not fighting it, choosing instead to think back on all the memories he'd had on that ship and how it had served him. Together with the next track, the surprisingly uplifting "Interbellum", "Sistereis" creates a nice intermission to the album, a short break from the oppressive atmosphere of everything else found on it.
Not enough good things can be said about this album. Honestly, every song on "Sistereis" could be a highlight. Each one has something to offer, either melodically or atmospherically, and paints a perfect picture for the listener. Relax, close your eyes, and filter out any other distractions, and the music on "Sistereis" becomes a portal to another world – a dark dreamland devoid of color. Each song is a different tale and a different place waiting to be explored. In this story, you are the main character. You are the captain lost at sea, the one abandoned by your crew. But you don't live to tell the tale. Tommy Jansen is the shipwreck diver who discovers your story and tells it for you. That story is "Sistereis". Rating: 9/10    Colin Williamson

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