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Category: Music
STEN OVE TOFT - Lit de parade (Roggbif)
"Lit de parade" is the French expression used when royalty and state leaders are publicly displayed on their deathbed. Norwegian Sten Ove Toft tried to apply the concept of post-mortem decomposition to a music which should symbolize the still present activities that a body presents after passing. Truth be told, this is a great electroacoustic piece, well thought out and even better realized, each element placed exactly where one would like to find it, never lasting more than what's strictly needed. I'm not precisely aware of what was utilized in the studio, as Toft is credited only with "instrumentation and sounds". There's a certain degree of manipulated environmental activity, a bass sample somewhere, a practically invisible contribution by Lasse Marhaug. However, who cares about who or what - it's the outcome that matters. The alternative presence of static drones, piercing high frequencies and (not too frequent) ear-slaughtering distortion is a point of strength, which suggests that the tension/release ratio has been planned very carefully (in fact the basic recordings were made between 2001 and 2006). A little bit of many things are to be found in there, from Nurse With Wound circa "Soliloquy for Lilith" to Hafler Trio; also, Daniel Menche's supporters might not experience a disappointment. Nevertheless, this is a deeply personal statement which leads to an underworld of doubts and slightly anxious expectations, an album that looks at death but sounds vivid, pulsating with the scary resonance of a tormented transcendence. I'd almost be willing to say that we're approaching masterpiece territories, my conviction in that sense growing as the fourth spin begins. Sturdy stuff, highly recommended.
4:07 PM
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