Artist : LIBRARY TAPES
Title : Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life
Cat# RESCD016

Format : CD Album In Digipack
Label : Resonant
Barcode # 0666017118925

Release Info :

Yet another debut album on Resonant, this time from a Swedish epic instrumental duo whose dark atmospherics echo the work of the likes of Max Richter, Lunz, Sylvain Chaveau, Esmerine, Rachels and A Silver Mt Zion. The two young men that comprise Library Tapes only met for the first time last summer, when Per was called by a promoter as a last-minute replacement for the guitarist in David's band - even though they live in the same town. It quickly became apparent that their respective talents would work well together, and so it has turned out; in Library Tapes, David takes care of computer-related business, as well as playing piano and acoustic guitar, while Per plays the balalaika, both acoustic and electric guitar (with bow) and piano.

Both Per and David also feature in other bands, and Per is involved in film-making, poetry and a spoken-word project. They took their name after performing live in a library; their structures and approach take their lead from classical music, and the seven expansive, sprawling, emotive compositions on "Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life" are effectively one piece of music split into subsections or movements.

The album was recorded in three severe winter days.

CD Tracklisting :

1. Broken Piano Pt.2
2. In A Safe Place .. Somewhere Near Your Heart
3. The Leaves Have Left Us
4. Cold Leaves For The Violent Ground
5. The Scratches On The Window In The Doors Of Each Cell
6. Broken Piano Pt.1
7. Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life

THIS RELEASE IS NOW SOLD OUT & DELETED

Reviews :

WIRE MAGAZINE

2005 is looking likely to be remembered as the year of the piano. With countless artists tickling the ivoriesand Michael Nyman's back catalogue getting the attention it deserves, the piano has become the weapon of choice for the more mellow-headed leftfield. The latest to join the Liberace list is Swedish duo Library Tapes, whose debut album 'Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life' lists Max Richter, Lunz and A Silver Mt. Zion as amongst their influences. Comprised of piano, acoustic/electric guitars, balalaika and the a trusty laptop, 'Alone In The Bright Lights...' seems to exist in a distant tundra, with the listener coaxed into embarking on a hugely rewarding journey. Whilst the stiff melodies of opening composition 'Broken Piano Pt.2' are draftily satisfying, it is '...in a safe place...somewhere near your heart...' that really establishes their sound. Not unlike a William Basinski piece, 'In a safe place...' takes an emotionally wrought piano and allows it to languidly meander over a stirring landscape of half-glimpsed sonic sturctures and soundscapes that can't help but make an emotional impact on this listener. Gorgeous. 

BOOMKAT

Whether you like this record depends on whether you find the title portentous or a snug fit for the story of your life. A bleak, creaking, dusty floorboard of an album that benefits from zero budget and the most minimal of instrumentation. Library Tapes are possibly two identically dressed old school friends who live in the middle of nowhere, don’t have a phone and communicate through taps on a glass hammer.
The piano is broken, the radio is set to shortwave snow, Winter’s a-callin’ and there’s nothing to look forward to but funerals. At least then we can wear our black suits. 

PIANO MAGIC

Here comes winter, sticking a finger of deathly chill into the small of your back and grinning like an idiot as the sharp twists induce convulsing shivers. Welcome to the unreal blanket of artificial heating, pitch darkness at 4 PM and rows of illuminated streetlights pin-pricking the gloom with clockwork efficiency. Look forward to donning fifty percent more wardrobe before leaving the house, or risking terrible exposure for your tender man-flesh. And that’s just in Britain, where winter isn’t even done properly; where half an inch of snow in the wrong place can result in overnight stays in temporary shelter with nothing but Pot Noodles for company. Cover Heathrow Airport in a thin layer of ice and watch the delays mount up whilst The Daily Mail ravenously demand Mr Blair pay a personal visit to defrost the runways with a hairdryer. Yes, the inescapable truth is that a proper winter would destroy this nation within hours.

Which is why I’m perfectly happy to experience one by audio-proxy, in the form of Library Tapes’ distinctly frosty Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life; the general tone of which is somewhat given away by that cheerful title. You can tell this isn’t going to be a winter of picturesque snowscapes and mitten-clad children scampering around with their hoods up—it’s one of the bleak, sub-zero temperatures variety.

This season of unrelenting gelidity is captured across seven instrumental tracks—though the creeping icicles practically bond them together into a single piece. The foundation, a single piano; bass pedal firmly to the floor and barely in tune. A lonely presence, but a commanding one. It is almost as if Library Tapes heard the final moments of The Cure’s “All Cats Are Grey” and took this as a cue to record half an hour of similar material—a revelation which will be anathema to many, but hopefully rousing for a few others. Myself amongst them.

The atmosphere throughout is uneasily claustrophobic; the layers of snow have been building up for days, pressing against doors and windows and threatening to form an icy tomb. The thinly furnished cabin is dimly lit by candlelight, but soon even this meagre source of illumination and heat will be extinguished. A maddening calm has descended, broken only by the repetition of piano notes and sporadic blizzard-like flurries which pound against this homely shell and rake branches violently across the windowpanes. Everything has come to a grinding halt. The album suggests a world outside that is just as helpless and vulnerable as the tiny stage upon which it’s own instrumental narrative is set. Throughout the land there are innumerable pockets of survival, identically frozen in time by the onset of piercing cold. Winter has come and this frail cocoon cannot protect any one of us.

I’m going out for a while. I may be some time.

STYLUS MAGAZINE

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