From Invisible Guy Time for the full review of Falling by Henrik Meierkord. This is one of those genres that I am not well-versed in but I can appreciate what it takes to make something like this. It is time for another challenge, it is time to embrace other genres that I might not have covered as extensively. Of course it is genres that I otherwise appreciate as well but haven’t had the guts to review or simply a huge writers block for it. Into the unknown we go. “Tonalitet I” is like a train, we’re moving towards a destination but we’re still not there yet. Wonderful landscapes show up just around the corner, the soundscape is slowly developing over time and both gives and takes time, violins and cellos don’t clash but match each other. It is above ambient, it is primal. If you felt something was missing the first track fills it in with ease, the light melodies go from one to the other. Suddenly, when you’ve made it through the first half of the track it builds up into a bombastic and emotional moment which fades out into nothingness. “Spelemän” have that classic otherworldlyness that ambient as a genre is great at capturing. But, instead of synthesizers making their way throughout it is accompanied by violins and cellos that have a certain vibrato to them. It feels like a glimpse into science fiction but we’re still here on earth, we have ambitions to move up and beyond what is capturable here. The atmosphere shifts from light and airy to intense where the cello brings in the bass, or is it the violin? I’m not sure about the terminology, I am just describing my feelings towards it. Great, great track. “Vi Faller” is even more emotional then the other tracks so far. It never feels like too much of the same because each track has its own individuality to steer the atmosphere, there’s a suspense in this track which is captured really well by the violin. Outdrawn long passages take you through a darker landscape, this is not as light as the tracks before and the title “We Fall” alludes to that. Perfect vibe for watching the sea getting more and more violent, or hear the storm coming in the darkness. “Sonneri de Viola et Violincell” feels more like a piece of classical music in a neo-classic take. The violin goes to the forefront and creates lots of intricate and exciting melodies. A somber, but refreshing vibe. I’m all for it, I enjoy older classical music from time to time and they make a resurgence in everything I do on a daily basis – not only listening to it but consuming and learning on my computer. It is slow-paced and moves into the same direction, it never goes into anything crazy but repeats in different variations over and over again and that’s not bad in this case. “Ambient Dreams” is just what it says it is. A slow, atmospheric and dreamy landscape of sound that ports you from cloud to cloud, we’re high up in the sky and low in the underground. Let your subconscious drift away by the subtle melodies and fine rhythm. It’s also a slow builder which builds up to a crescendo then quickly turns the other way into complete silence once you make it through the whole song. But before it goes into silence it remains lingering like a distant memory. “Tonalitet II” is one of my favorite tracks on this album, the suspense is there, the melodies are there, the emotions are captured very well with the sound. A continuation from “Tonalitet I“, but this one delivers a more positive outlook through sound. Like when the sun shines through the clouds on a rainy day and the rain stops pouring down. “Tonalitet III” is curious and adventurous in sound. As if you’re going into the unknown, the melodies grasp you and carry you away into what sounds like a big boat that is coming to pick you up to let you go on that adventure. We’re travelling slowly throughout and when we get to the later half of the track things turn more sinister but fade away as quickly as they were presented. Continued into “Tonalitet IV” where it feels like you’ve arrived to your destination. The end destination. It is a suspenseful track which makes use of very good switches in sound and atmosphere, adding more elements that painlessly make it more interesting. Sudden stabs of the violin and cello into a more outdrawn and droning one. There seems to be a theme to the album and that is as quickly as it came and as slow as it went – it turns into silence in the matter of seconds or slower when you get to the end. You can’t enjoy it for too long but that’s fine because it feels like an eternity of sound in a good way. The transmission is without fault. “Övergång I” is phenomenal. I don’t have many words for it but the majestic baseline that goes through the soundscape cuts into the atmosphere but adds a certain feeling to it which would not be possible to conceive just with the violin and other instruments alone. This is my favorite track on the album, it is everything that Henrik Meierkord presents put into one vessel of sound. “Övergång II” is also very good but not as good as the first one. It does a great job in atmosphere, melodies and sound and transports you quickly to the last few songs of this album. Don’t get me wrong it is also a great song like the majority of the songs on this release but one of them was phenomenal. “Sarabandesque Streicher” bring the neo-classical overtones onto the landscape of sound that ambient produce. This song is the longest song on the release but it snaps through atmosphere to atmosphere and brings forth another dimension of the sound. Presenting different characters of his sound throughout, from the more dreamy, airy and positive vibes to the more dreary, dark, sullen and emotionally loaded atmospheres and soundscapes. A joy to listen to when you take your evening coffee. “Summerbreeze” wraps it up with warmth, a hug from an old friend that you haven’t seen for ten years that makes a reapperance in your life. The end of summer has come and now it is time for the autumn, it leaves some of the darker elements in and then sends you off expecting and hoping a future release will be around the corner but I can’t imagine how long it took for this to materialize. What he has in talent I don’t have in a lifetime, right now, at least when it comes to music. It was really hard to deciper this album and it was really hard to find fitting descriptions, sometimes you have to move out of your comfort zone and try something else to review like Falling. All in all a phenomenal album that everyone should listen to and please get it digitally from Projekt Resords. -Repartiseraren
