Northaunt & Svartsinn - The Borrowed World

Ambient music has always been a guide through our deepest unconscious, risen by pressing specific sensual buttons to open wide the gate into it. And of course, the most intelligent way was to play with associations and intuitive memory reflexes though the musical process has to carry a strong cinematic impulse in order to make it much more effective. There are few specific names to take as an example when we talk about creating a true cinematic atmosphere. And here are two of them that cut their teeth on manipulation with the strongest feelings through colorful soundscapes. Northaunt and Svartsinn join forces to create a special soundtrack for those that are deeply touched with a spirit of a book by Cormac McCarthy "The Road". I am very surprised that such a theme was quite underestimated by experimental music artists or maybe I just didn't come across it recently. Anyhow, being the one who read the book few times and saw the movie, I must admit that it is one of the most powerful novels that had been written during past decade at least. For those of you, who are not familiar with this masterpiece, here is an excerpt from the review by The Guardian:

"The Road is a novel of transforming power and formal risk. Abandoning gruff but profound male camaraderie, McCarthy instead sounds the limits of imaginable love and despair between a diligent father and his timid young son, 'each other's world entire'. The initial experience of the novel is sobering and oppressive; its final effect is emotionally shattering..."

Thus, the goal of any musician is quite complex when trying to compose a soundtrack for such images. The power of emotional contact between two people that are left alone, scarred, desperate and lost in the post-apocalyptic world, this kind of a contact should be eternal and the music has to keep the level high to unveil it to the audience.

What images will dominate your dreams while traveling through the vast frozen landscape? What thoughts will conquer your mind when you witness the dawn of civilization? The answers to those questions are extremely uneasy and demand a certain level of intelligence and power of the will. But what if you are not some kind of a superhuman, just one ordinary guy with your own problems, both physical and mental? Is it possible to survive and, what is more important, to transfer your belief to a small guy who totally depends on you?

Northaunt is the first who tries to give an answer to all those questions with his part of this split CD, stepping on the dead ground, carrying a composition under the name "If Only My Heart Were Stone". I feel that there is no need to introduce the abilities of this famous fella; Haerleif is a highly experienced person and shows the whole specter of his sound through this track. A wide and very cold background atmosphere, an echo processed, light, but still mysterious melody, they capture my attention from the very first seconds of the CD. Windy air flow sound chills my skin creating a strong feeling of a physical "presence", like it is me that crawls through apocalyptic, dead land. Sky is full of stars but they give no light to a desperate and lonely heart.

The father is coughing blood, which forces him and his son, "in their rags like mendicant friars sent forth to find their keep", on to the treacherous road southward, towards a sea and - possibly - survivable, milder winters. They push their salvage in a shopping cart, wryly fitted with a motorcycle mirror to keep sentinel over that road behind. And of course, the music is there to reflect those images, to sharpen them and to cut the listeners soul with its edges.

The composition can be divided into few easily recognizable parts (four if I am not mistaken) but the connection between them is very, very smooth to draw the complete picture of the deep sensual exploration. The music itself is quite dynamic and keeps the theme alive in a constant evolutionary drift through the development of the story line.

Where can hope be found, who will return the warmth into the heart of stone? Svartsinn takes up the torch with "Ashes Of The Late World". The music transforms to be much dreamier balancing on a thin edge which divides dark ambient from drone. The atmosphere becomes really tragic, sober cry of the violin mourns those who are gone forever; slowly moving passages draw a destroyed landscape with a highest precision and beauty. And of course as a final milestone of the whole creation are the words of a little creature, a scared boy losing fate and his only supportive shoulder .... calling from a deepest abyss of desperation "Papa , papa" . What heartless and miserable person you should be if you were not touched by this powerful and yet sorrowful ending.

When there is no future, when the past already disappeared in the fire tornado of human self-destructive impulse, the only thing that counts is the priceless feeling of living here and now. And even when the times are truly dark and you try to concentrate on survival for the love of a little helpless creature, a glimpse of hope can be found in the place where death rules with its heavy hand. The story line of "The Road" while supported by the beautiful tunes of Northaunt and Svartsinn receives much wider perspectives, turning the reading process into one hell of an experience. So what are you waiting for now? All this beauty is just few clicks and 14 euros away. Forget about 3-4 cups of Starbucks coffee and invest in something much more valuable. Those artists worth more than that.
May 27 2014