The White Birch: Come Up For Air [Vinyl 1LP]

Indie Pop / Avant Pop / Muzyka alternatywna
premiera polska: 2007-04-12
kontynent: Europa
kraj: Norwegia
opakowanie: Singlefold
opis:
opis:
Wzniosły, niemal patetyczny, melancholijny minimal-pop, kąpiący się w świetle i powietrzu...
Kolejna płyta norweskiego tria przynosi ponownie piękne, zwiewne melodie, nagrane cichutko, w żółwim tempie, zgodnie z hasłem 'Quiet Is The New Loud'. Po trzech latach od poprzedniej, rewelacyjnie przez prasę i publiczność przyjętej płyty 'Star Is Just A Sun' Olat Flottum, Hans-Christian Almendingen i Ulf Rogde zgotowali nam album pełen wzruszeń, piękna, melancholii, marzeń...

Zespół istnieje już od 1996 roku. Do końca 1998 roku wydał jeden album i dwie EP-ki, potem zamilkł aż na dwa lata, by w 2000 roku zacząć pracować nad nowym albumem. To zajęło kolejne dwa lata, aż pojawił się 'Star Is Just A Sun', jak widać praca nad nowym albumem zajęła jeszcze więcej czasu. Ale to przecież logiczne, takiej muzyki nie można skomponować i nagrać w pośpiechu, pod naciskiem speców od marketingu, wytwórni czy menedżera. Ci Norwegowie się tym zupełnie nie przejmują, dlatego 'Come Up For Air' pozostaje na poboczu głównego nurtu muzyki pop.

Editor's info:
The fourth longplayer from the (still) young Norwegian trio led by singer, guitarist and main songwriter Ola Fløttum shows a band growing with confidence and maturing as writers since their debut album "Self-Portrayal" some ten years ago. This is a beautifully recorded and produced collection of melancholic, dreamy rock songs possibly somewhere between Sigur Ros and Talk Talk. It features Susanna Wallumrød from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra on two tracks, and as with their previous album "Star Is Just A Sun" (2002) it is produced by Helge Sten, aka Deathprod.
Please note that a limited vinyl edition in a gatefold sleeve is also available (RLP 3052). Please also note that the CD edition is only available to our distributors in USA and Asia, while the LP edition will be available to all. Both editions are available for private customers at our webshop.

Oto wybrane recenzje z zachodniej prasy:
A gorgeous, somewhat melancholic piece of dreamy ambient rock, Come Up For Air sounds more like something I'd enjoy during fall weather, but that hasn't stopped it from finding its way into my stereo a lot lately anyway.
Almostcool (US)

More of a traditional rock record from Norway's finest experimental label this time around, as the White Birch draw from the melancholic sounds of Sigur Ros and Talk Talk. Produced by Helge Sten (aka Deathprod and member of Supersilent), "Come Up for Air" is a beautiful collection of dreamy piano and guitar-based songs, with Ola Flottum's somewhat odd singing voice (sometimes reminiscent of fellow Norwegian and King of Convenience, Erlend Oye's mild croon) floating on top. Some of the songs are enriched by subdued washes of strings, bells, and horns, creating a similar atmosphere to that of Jason Pierce's more valium-induced works with Spiritualized. It might take a few listens before it hits, but once "Come Up for Air" finally settles, it's guaranteed to stay with you for a long time. Soothing yet strangely haunting nighttime music.
Other Music (US)

You may have to be a patient soul to fall in love with the White Birch's new CD, "Come Up for Air", but it's certainly not anything-core. Minimal and serene, this record breathes with soft and organic life. Broadly speaking, you could describe the music as adult pop, but of a quality not usually heard in that genre, underneath its unassuming surface, the White Birch's calm music reveals real beauty, a real reward.
Popmatters (US)

Produced by Rune Grammofon staple Helge Sten (of Supersilent and Deathprod fame), the Norwegian trio's 2005 long-player, which has finally seen release domestically in the United States, is an evocative and expressive work that, despite its dense, flowery melodicism, displays an innocently unassuming lyrical charm. "Come Up For Air" possesses a crystalline, unmuddied shimmer that serves as a kind of sonic accelerant, granting the tracks deeper purchase into the listener's consciousness. The third track, "Your Spain," is an infectiously listenable piece that should unquestionably be released as a single. Infinitely superior to the usual turgid fare that passes as "adult alternative," this multi-faceted song bewitches with its deceptive simplicity. Emotional, but far from overwrought, The White Birch's "Come Up For Air" comes highly recommended.
Tinymixtapes (US)

Among countless others, Norway's Kings of Convenience, Iceland's Sigur Ros and the majority of Canada's Constellation records' artist catalog have been upstarts of an unmistakably pure, crisp and unaltered brand of atmospheric pop music. Norwegian trio The White Birch is one such example of how sweeping Scandinavian landscapes and beautiful, lush scenery would undoubtedly produce a unique overabundance of inspiration. Their newest album, "Come Up For Air" is best listened to with closed eyes and a readiness to swim through dreams backed by a panorama of tranquility. As a whole, "Come Up For Air" is an unflinchingly peaceful album that has the ability to leave chosen listeners in an elated state of blurry unconsciousness.
Urban Pollution (US)

popMATTERS - RATING 7/10
Listen to Come Up for Air and consider this: the White Birch, the Norwegian band responsible for this serene, Nordic calm, used to be an industrial-goth band, and is even described by some critics with the -core suffix, as if that means anything. You may have to be a patient soul to fall in love with the White Birch’s new CD, Come Up for Air, but it’s certainly not anything-core. Minimal and serene, this record breathes with soft and organic life. Broadly speaking, you could describe the music as adult pop, but of a quality not usually heard in that genre — underneath its unassuming surface, the White Birch’s calm music reveals real beauty, a real reward.
All very calm, the role of drums minimal, Come Up for Air plays like a sedate chamber work. The sense of space in these songs recalls Sigur Ros — though the execution is very different — another band that rewards patience and repeated, engaged listens. Think of the music of Clogs made into pop, gorgeous round acres of sound that somehow communicate a profound sense of peace. Beneath it all cellos sway and sing, warming the coldest winter heart. An example — the inclusion of the low cello bass line, all long-held basso continuo, creates an ethereal sense of calm on “Storm Broken Tree”; not until later do you realize that with each repetition a new instrument is unobtrusively added, until the fragile falsetto vocal becomes a soulful adult-pop ballad.
“Seer Believer” opens with the aesthetic of Youth Group’s “Someone Else’s Dream”, but the vocals immediately establish this laid-back, minimalist pop sound; the song creates a strong classical underpinning with this chopped string figure in the background, before cutting out in the middle of a chorus. Unexpected tricks like this keep the material interesting on the second and third listen, rewarding patience. “Your Spain” catches attention immediately, vocals hitting with the blinking wonder of Jose Gonzalez, all chugging pop melancholy — and did I mention, absolutely gorgeous. The musical culmination of the album may be the outstanding “Stand Over Me”. Over a gorgeous, all-enveloping wash of sound that recalls Art of Fighting, Ola Fløttum’s thin baritone intones: “And if I fall, crumble at your feet / Stand over me”.
Fløttum’s voice is pretty like Jeff Buckley’s, but he’s careful to purposefully display its limitations. On “The White Birds”, his voice cracks in between each note, like a violin’s bow changing direction, and the intrusion of ugly sound becomes an integral part of the experience of listening; a hint that reality can’t be totally expressed in this warm, orchestral pop sound. The only song that doesn’t work completely is “The Astronaut”, and it’s due to another of the vocal experiments. He pushes his voice too low and it bottoms out, the resulting timbre wide and ugly without a true sense of pitch. As the melody rises in his register, the contrast to prettiness is maximized, true, but it’s a strange choice, and for thirty seconds or so it’s quite uncomfortable.
Rune Grammophon’s repackaging of the CD (which was originally released in Norway in November of last year) features artwork by Kim Hiorthøy, but the whole thing is so unobtrusive as to almost not exist. The song titles on the back cover are dark font on dark background; the CD, a perfectly plain pink. You can imagine this sound played up as new acoustic pop for discerning adults, splashy and overstated, but as it is, the disc retains its small-scale sense of calm and dignity.
And that’s ultimately the difference between the White Birch and a band like, oh, say, Coldplay. This modest band has recorded the compositions on Come Up for Air with a respect for the instrumentation and a compositional depth that, if you let it, could be transformative.
By Dan Raper

muzycy:
Ola Fløttum: Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Violin, Mandolin
Ulf Rogde: Bass
Hans Christian Almendingen: Drums, Percussion

Isak Anderssen: Cello on tracks: 1, 2, 4, 10
Ivar Chr. Johansen: Trumpet on tracks: 1, 7, 8

utwory:
1. Seer Believer
2. Storm-Broken Tree
3. Your Spain
4. The White Birds
5. Silent Love
6. June
7. Stand Over Me
8. Small Hours
9. We Are Not The Ones
10. The Astronaut
11. New Kingdom

wydano: 2006-08-07
more info: www.runegrammofon.com
more info2: www.thewhitebirch.no