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Release Info : Second album from the Swedish contemporary classical duo, a year on from the sold out debut "Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life" (which will be repressed soon). Once more, sparse, bleak compositions take centre stage on "Feelings For Something Lost", with the piano more prominent and the overall sound more stripped down than was the case with its predecessor; dark atmospherics echoing the work of Rachels, Set Fire To Flames, Sylvain Chauveau et al. Once again the album is the work of David Wenngren and Per Jardsell, with guest appearances from Cecile Schott (COLLEEN) on the stunning "Leaves Abstract In A Village Plunged Into Mourning" and Erik Skovdin (DEAF CENTER) on "Departures (Burning Saints For Your Own Sins)". The album features twelve tracks, recorded between November 2004 and January 2006, all of which have lengthy titles that convey the feeling of the music perfectly. Track from Library Tapes' debut included on the "Silva" compilation on Erik Skovdin's label, alongside tracks from Deaf Center, Marsen Jules, Ryan Teague, Julien Neto, Greg Haines and more
Tracklisting: 1. but now things were
different, with birds unable to speak
PRICE/COST DELETED/OUT OF PRINT
Reviews : Last year's gorgeous 'Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life' album from Swedish duo Library Tapes landed here amongst a deluge of piano flecked gems. 2005 proved to be the year when the piano became trendy once more and artists flocked around the delicate ivories of their grandmother's old upright. The two Scandinavians avoided comparison to the glitchy homespun loveliness of the Boats, to Goldmund's stark and simple minimalism or to Max Richter's Nyman-esque epics thanks to their very personal take on the genre. Using 78rpm vinyl crackle and distorted shortwave radio static as primary instruments, the record took the process and the medium with as much importance as the compositions themselves creating an unmatched murky atmosphere reminiscent of your favourite flickering black-and-white films. 'Feelings for Something Lost' is the next logical step from this, playing like a lost soundtrack, only barely recoverable from its decomposing master tapes. The tracks are for the most part as short as film cues (the album actually only weighs in at a scant 28 minutes!) but for some reason it feels like this is the only way it could have been. If you remember the utterly magnificent 'Memories of Green' track from Vangelis's seminal Blade Runner soundtrack then you'll have a good idea of what David Wenngren and Per Jardsall are shooting at here. Faded photographs, distant memories, foggy northern European landscapes, rain on mud-caked windows... you know what I'm talking about. Interestingly the duo have roped in some rather important collaborators to help them conjure up an even more focused image - on 'Leaves Abstract in a Village Plunged into Mourning...' they take Colleen's delicate fingerpicking and manage to make it sound like an old Gramophone record and on 'Departures' they look to neighbouring Norway and use Deaf Center's Erik Skodvin's ample talents to help them piece together the album's darkest and most dread-filled vignette. I must say that since hearing Akira Rabelais' stunning 'Eisoptrophobia' I have been digging around for something which treats the humble piano in the same crumbling manner - finally I've found it. Wenngren and Jardsell have created a faded postcard from the monochrome landscapes of Sweden, left it in a dusty junk shop and then offered it to us with love. Highly recommended. BOOMKAT 'Feelings For Something Lost' opens with the sounds of birds, a deep drone and the sound of trains passing over tracks. Lonely piano drifts over a sea of empty echoes in But Now Things Were Different, With Birds Unable to Speak, revealing a gloomy moonlit landscape filled with the sounds of broken instruments quietly decaying. Small loops of fragmented memories sink and resurface under the crackle of a broken two-way radio in It Was A Cold Day In February and We Walked Across the Lake, cementing a sense of bleak isolation while floorboards creak and creatures creep and an un-tuned radio slides in and out of view. Beautiful acoustics hide in every corner of Swedish Library Tapes' second album, which centres around mournful disjointed piano, playing tunes that can't quite be remembered and are left forever on the tips of old fingers. 'Feelings for Something Lost' is filled with feelings of loneliness and cold, with forgotten sounds and crumbling instruments that once were magnificent. It evokes so much loss and separation it can be a difficult listen, but only because of how strikingly it communicates, of how well it reaches out from the dark loneliness it creates. ANGRYAPE Following on very much
in the style established on their previous album Alone In The Bright
Lights Of A Shattered Life, this new set from Library Tapes is
outstandingly bleak, minimal and intimate. I imagine that Library Tapes'
David Wenngren and Per Jardsell have never heard the theme from Oliver
Postgate's Bagpuss, but the twelve tracks here share its childlike,
eerie sense of atmospherics, of loss and of glimmers of hope. Feelings For Something Lost is the second album from the Swedish duo Library Tapes. Like a lot of other groups, they create ambient music for imaginary soundtracks. With sort of a lo-fidelity classical (mainly piano driven) tinge, they have things in common with everyone from Rachel's to Deaf Center and even Set Fire To Flames. Tracks sound like they're recorded in different rooms of decaying houses, from second-floor bedrooms with the roofs blown and rain coming in away to dark, wet cellars where something might be lurking around the corner. With long track titles, the group seems set on at least somewhat leading the listener, and "But Now Things Were Different, With Birds Unable To Speak" opens the release with a field recording of birds before some mechanical sounds swallow everything up before some sparse piano melodies creep out the other end. The piano-driven pieces continue on "Feelings For Something Lost In Two Parts (Pt. 1)" and this time quiet and sparse playing is mixed in with crackling radio static and bits of garbled speech. Colleen (aka Cecile Schott) joins the duo on "Leaves Abstract In A Village Plunged Into Mourning" and it makes for what is easily one of the most outstanding tracks on the release. This time out, what sounds like looping phrases of piano overlap in delightful ways while all kinds of subtle melodic layers (woodwind, strings) seem to stretch time as the piece travels through the ether. Melodically, the second half of the aforementioned "Feelings For Something Lost" is another standout, with melancholic notes again fighting their way through increased static. Sadly, the group doesn't break from their formula of sparse piano and scratchy recording noise too often. On "Departures (Burning Saints For Your Own Sins)," they bring some stuttering loops, improvised hand percussion, and guitar feedback into the mix, but the aimless piece just doesn't really add much to the release and at four minutes feels much longer than it actually is. With a total running length of just under thirty minutes, the second album from Library Tapes fortunately doesn't wear on too long. It could have been even better with a little more variety to mix things up, but if you're looking for something to soundtrack a rainy day, you probably won't do much better. ALMOST COOL When I got the mail-out that said a new Library Tapes album was on the way I got so excited I actually spent that night dreaming that I was listening to it. Despite having obviously not heard it, my mind filled in the gaps and I was treated to the crackling field recordings overlaid with sparse piano arrangements that I have come to love about this act from their debut Alone in the Bright Lights of a Shattered Life. (Released in 2005 and criminally underrated). This story of fan-boy craziness kind of has a point though, the album actually sounded like that. Library Tapes are a Swedish duo that are rarely seen outside of their home country, looking over their sites’ info you see they cite their influences as Mono, GY!BE, ASMZ and various other big names. Nothing unusual, except for the fact that they sound nothing like any of those bands. It could even be argued that with this release they have strayed out of post-rock altogether. On the last album there were some familiar post-rock elements; for example, the fuzz guitar of Mono was present on a few tracks and on others a guitar was picking alongside the piano ala Goldmund. This time around however their music is, in simple terms, a piano and various noises. It is a very lovely piano, but the really special moments on the debut – such as “in a safe place...somewhere near your heart” – stood out because of the guitars.On top of losing the extra instrumentation there has also been a shift towards shorter songs, with only 1 track lasting far past the 3 minute mark, for the fans of statistics there are 5 more songs on this album and its 5 minutes shorter than the last. A plus side is that there is less ‘filler’, field recordings as intros and outros, a downside is that it all seems to end very fast. Moreover, as Sod’s Law would have it, the worst track is the longest. All things considered, the good bits missing from this album are pretty much exactly countered by the things that have been done better. There’s no progress or new tricks here, but, when you make beautiful music in the first place, who wants change? SILENT BALLET The latest release from
Sweden's Library Tapes is a handmade, CD-R collaboration between its
sole member, David Wenngren, and cellist and saw player Danny Norbury.
Wenngren builds upon his past releases by digging deeper into his
musical toolbox of piano, computer, and field recordings for new and
intriguing sounds. With its excellent utilization of electronic effects,
spare arrangement, melancholy strings, and repeated motifs,
"Sketches" forms into a beautiful, atmospheric experience.
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