SIMON STEENSLAND

4.5 stars. I have a lot of appreciation for Simon's "Led Circus", "Fat Again" and "A Farewell To Brains" but I also have some minor issues with all of his stuff. Still he plays that dark and heavy style I like and he flirts often with Zeuhl and is without question an Avant artist. Adventerous is the word and being from Sweden he has some known musicians from our music world helping him out. This release from 2020 at 70 minutes is his most consistent album in my opinion, and I mean consistently great. Sure it leans more to the orchestral and classical realm than the Zeuhl/Rock mode I prefer but I have zero complaints here.

This is a collaboration with Australia's JG Thirwell a multi- instrumentalist and fan of Simon's music mentioning "Led Circus" and "Fat Again" he recounts "I admired the dark power in his work and it seemed adjacent to a lot of music that I love and inspires me- groups in the RIO and Zeuhl worlds such as MAGMA, UNIVERS ZERO and PRESENT, as well as 70's era KING CRIMSON and Bartok." This is a true partnership with each composing four tracks but they make it clear in the liner notes that each contributed a considerable amount of composed parts to each others work.

This is a trio and what a trio! Thirwell, Steensland and drummer Morgan Agren and then we get eleven guests adding flavours with wordless vocals, sax, violin, cello, oboe, bass clarinet, trombone and guitars. This is dense and dark without flaws. Each track is a journey itself into a new world that I find quite fascinating. The opener "Catholic Deceit", closer "Redbug" and also "Heresy Flank" are my top three and what an imposing trio of songs that is! Agren on drums is huge here but he does not dominate at all. Such a group effort with their egos put aside to create this almost perfect album when it comes to that dark and classically inspired music they created here. A top five for 2020 without question and I'm bumping this one up to 5 stars.

JG Thirlwell is an Australian-born, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist best known as the man behind the industrial act Foetus. He also acts the composer for the TV shows Archer and The Venture Bros, the latter of which is one of my absolute favorite shows. (It also made progressive rock a central plot element in one episode.) Simon Steensland is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist and composer with a long history in modern avant-garde rock music.

In addition to avant-garde and progressive rock influences, this duo makes extensive use of orchestral music. Much of this album sounds like it could have been the score for a creepy arthouse film. Atonal strings and minor key woodwinds dominate on this record, filling up most of the space not occupied by traditional rock instrumentation.

The opening "Catholic Deceit" demonstrates this approach, with its spooky chamber-music orchestration and rolling, propulsive percussion below stretched-out distorted guitar. Later in the song, a marching rhythm takes over, augmented by low brass and a distorted, pulsing synth. The song's final minutes come to a climax with speedy marimba lines and chaotic, yet deft, drumming.

The second song, "Heron", starts off slower than the opener, but by the time it reaches its midpoint, it's brimming with dramatic guitar, synth, and choral parts. "Night Shift" has huge, metallic guitar parts and plodding, powerful drums. That song also features another march consisting of low brass and marimba that sounds like it was originally written for The Venture Bros before being retooled for this project instead.

"Papal Stain" is one of the most consistently urgent compositions on Oscillospira. There are the usual tempo and dynamic variations that mark all these sprawling pieces, but the mood of this song is especially tense. "Heresy Flank" has some distinct textural qualities. There's this hurried scratching sound which I can only guess is muted acoustic guitar strings. Contrasted against bassy, heavy piano, it makes everything feel askew. "Heresy Flank" is also the most consistently Venture Bros-ish composition here.

The album closes on "Redbug", which has some apparent Magma allusions. Mantra-like vocal chants, jazzy drumming, and insistent basslines build in intensity. Synths warble in the background, and electric guitar notes stretch and distend over the top. Once the intensity crests, the mood shifts to one of doom and despair.

Oscillospira is a long album that demands a lot of attention. The instrumental compositions morph gradually over runtimes which regularly cross the 8-minute threshold. Atonality can be a tricky tool to deploy, but Thirlwell and Steensland have used it masterfully on this record.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2020/05/25/album-review-jg-thirlwell-simon-steensland-oscillospira/

An overt continuation of the Univers Zero aesthetic and ethos. Arcane horror music with careful vigilance always to maintain a kind of sonic beauty. It's a caricature of real horror, and has nothing of rot and fetid stink. It rarely breaks out into anything like a funky Zeuhl groove, but there's a lot of marching of the troops of Mordor.

Play-by-plays of the tracks:

Schrödinger's Friend - Very dense harmonies in the first rock section. A sensitive passage for violins is enweirded by pitch bent bell tones. The Zeuhl bass growl is a key sonic element. Forlorn interlude of piano and violin. A Morse code rhythmic pattern enters with an odd lady voice melody. This gets developed in the next rocking section. Lots of harmonium. The piece as a whole is evenly divided between slow, forlorn music and more drum-driven, dense rhythmic material. Acoustic instruments dominate with the bass as the constant electric voice. A final pounding dirge builds up ever thicker harmonies.

The Flagellant March - Escalation of ominous chords. The first groove that enters features a bass line that sounds like a development of the medieval Dies Irae. A fragmented march rhythm with keening harmonium chords introduces a "ta-dum ta-dum" figure sung by the ladies Rexed and Bergqvist. Bass clarinetist Yann le Nestour gets a featured solo over toy piano. Callas/theremin-like synth lines. A long section develops a 9/8 rhythm - "ta-dum dum ta-dum dum dum.," culminating in a synth solo by Robert Elovsson. Agren is so impressive. There's a bit of a false ending before the ta-dum rhythm re-enters for a final jam with pretty guitar strums.

Zombie B. Goode - Dissonant but functional harmonies and a a long-note melody sung wordlessly. Once again, a big 9-beat rhythm but it doesn't persist for long. Episode to episode it advances, continuously lovely/brutal. Fanciful polyrhythms. A slow procession of dense harmonies develops from the halfway point of the piece. This dissolves into oily mire-space. A chanting male voice intones something in French or Swedish as church bells begin to toll in the background. A long fade gets interrupted by a dark march infused with the screams of the damned. Liturgical chant ladies close the album with a beautifully executed cliche.

Complicated, dissonant, and non-straightforward sound structural reform should get to be a unified temptation with enough fermentation and maturation. We are definitely in trouble with what we say for this creation, but it's obvious this album is splendid. "Oscillospira" released in 2020 is one of the most listener-friendly albums, let me say. Such a quite colourful, diverse melodic / rhythmic world created by JG THIRLWELL and Simon STEENSLAND would catch our heart completely, not catchy nor easy to digest though. Difficult to find what is the acceptable element, but their soundscape like water flowing should be important. Every single track is a bit long but it's kinda fascination we cannot feel the length itself via this album. Their brilliant performance full of unification should be the key morphological point.

From the beginning of the first shot "Catholic Deceit" we are drenched in smooth but hypertensive sound material. Impressive, innovative is the horn-section-originated hard-edged sound steppin'. It's pretty emergent and energetic. The opening gives us a suggestion where to go, but we MUST get deceived soon. Please touch the following "Heron" flooded with crazy avantgarde chamber vibes combined with metallic havoc, and get driven into madness. "Night Shift" is sorta combination of heaviness, darkness, and quietness. Strong impression through wind-instrument- oriented jazzy, deep structure in the former part gradually shifts dark but dreamy quietness ... this modification is enjoyable. "Papal Stain" has more unstable but gorgeous, beautiful psychedelia seasoned with synthesizer-based starshine sounds and excessively dignified lines that remind us of the similarity to King Crimson. "Heresy Flank" featuring JG's lyrical voices and Simon's percussive sound creatures is theatrical and dramatic. Wondering always why they can play such a tough movement in a precise manner, and no suspicion we are immersed in this precision by them. In "Mare" bright but weird strain atmosphere is standing face to face with explosive sound dissection. What a tension. "Crystal Night" is produced with twisted violin sounds and irregular but supportive synthesizer background. Quite tingling sensation it launches, regardless of the shortest one in this album. The last "Redbug" filled with kaleidoscopic melodic development like "they are putting upon their last spurt, to be all over" can be very suitable for the epilogue of this artistic opus.

We can feel apparent temptation via this stuff. A long and great journey.

A stretch of foreboding instrumental prog with a flood of sludgy, Lovecraftian grooves. If you like that dark-for-dark's- sake early Univers Zero feel, this will be a comfy bed to curl up in. Demonic bass lines, macabre counterpoint, wordless soprano in long note values, and the occasional arcane whisper. You get the idea. For the first half of the album I admittedly found myself a little jaded with some of the more predictable conventions of the style and a couple of repetitive riff stretches that didn't quite bear fruit. Then about half way through, deeper atmospheres settled in, with the interesting instrumental detail and crisp snare drum work in "Heresy Flank," the more subdued "Mare," and the emotive violin of "Crystal Night." Make no mistake thought - they're really good at this.

4.5 stars. I hope Simon is making albums for many years to come because the man really is a treasure. I love his humour and of course his music which is dark, experimental and zeuhlish. Lots of guests helping out including drummer extraordinaire Morgan Agren and bass monster Guy Segers. I would rate this album right up there with "Led Circus" and "Fat Again".

The album opens and closes with 17 minute suites. First up is "Schrodinger's Cat" which begins with a nod to MAGMA before it settles into a groove with fuzzed out bass. It settles back with accordion but kicks back in quickly. The guitar is crying out after 2 1/2 minutes. It settles again before 4 minutes into a zeuhl mode before settling right down again 5 1/2 minutes in and again MAGMA comes to mind. A dissonant horn comes in around 7 1/2 minutes in a relaxed manner. It settles down again 10 1/2 minutes in with accordion and atmosphere. More dissonant horn then it picks up before 14 minutes and again it's zeuhlish before ending in an avant manner with droning. "Elephant" is a short piece of just under 2 1/2 minutes with fuzzed out bass, piano, drums and more.

"One" opens with a slow paced, dirge-like way with these female vocal melodies that are avant sounding, I really like them. They stop then it lightens after 2 minutes. I really enjoy the different sounds here as it plays out. A change after 4 minutes as it seems darker until around 6 1/2 minutes when accordion and interesting sounds take over. I love the melancholic synths after 8 minutes. It's building before 10 minutes with a zeuhlish flavour including chanting. Piano only after 10 1/2 minutes then it picks up a minute later.

"Fader Var" is the only song I'm not into with those female vocals and piano standing out. It's only 3 minutes in length though. "The Idiot" is sparse with female vocals sounds and piano then it turns fuller before a minute with bass clarinet, vocal melodies and more. We start to get this pulsating rhythm with fuzzed out bass then the tempo picks up before 3 minutes then it turns heavier. A calm after 4 minutes then it starts to pick up 7 minutes in. This sounds really good. Vocal melodies a minute later and I love that fuzzed out bass. A calm before 11 minutes and this is dark and kind of creepy with spoken male words. Experimental stuff.

Another incredible album from this crazy Swede that might be his most zeuhlish recording to date.

Swedish composer and musician Simon STEENSLAND is a veteran creator of music in the progressive circuit. He released his debut album back in 1993, and has released new albums on a fairly regular basis in the years that have passed since then. "A Farewell to Brains" is his seventh studio production, and was issued through Altrock Records in 2015.

A stellar cast of musicians sees to it that Steensland's visions, that at least from a musical point of view are firmly placed on the dark and gloomy side of things, are brought to full life in a mesmerizing manner on "A Farewell to Brains". A visionary production with material rather unlike much else you'll encounter, most certainly residing within the more challenging corners of the avant-garde progressive rock universe, a transfixing journey into realms rarely explored by others. Highly recommended, especially to those with a taste for music firmly placed on the dark and eerie side of life.

Simon Steensland's Kamikaze United is the name of the live band that Steensland assembled to actually perform some of the music he had created over the last ten plus years. It features a lot of his regular cast of collaborators, including as ever Morgan Agren (of Mats/Morgan) on drums.

Included on this album is at least one track from almost all of Simon's previous albums, including his collaboration with Sten Sandell (Ganggang) and the album of his theater pieces (Kaspar's Theme). From Led Circus we have The Return of Instant Jesus, which has been shortened by removing the vocal part. This reduces the weirdness a bit and makes the track a bit more accessible, and it works rather well (although I do still tend to prefer the Led Circus version). The stellar opening Track, Parade, hails from The Zombie Hunter. Interestingly, the only album that does not have a track featured here is his debut, The Simon Lonesome Combat Ensemble.

What is fascinating is that everything beyond those four tracks have not been featured on any of Simon's other albums, so for a fan of Simons music, there is more interest here than just seeing if he could pull off the music live.

Fans of rhythm sections will love this music, because it is very rhythmic and hypnotic. The crux of the band (to me at least) really is Simon on bass and Morgan on the drums. As with Zeuhl, there is a certain amount of repetition to the rhythms. The overall feel of the album is propulsive and challenging, and it's easy just to get lost in the layers built on top of the dominant rhythm sections. The energy is high and the band are all in top notch shape. Even the guests give stellar performances; take Pelle's trumpet part at the end of "Parade" as an example of this.

A great live album of one of the music worlds great, under-sung artists, showing now only that he and his bands have the chops to perform the music, but that there is a great passion behind them as well. The only complaint I do have is that the set list does not make use of much of Simons tracks with vocals, possibly due to the difficulty of finding a singer or of performing these tracks live.

This album is a collaborative album by Simon Steensland and Sten Sandell. Simon Steensland is a Swedish avant-garde artist who had already released several albums prior to this (although this is the earliest I've heard from him thus far); I can't claim to know much about Sten.

It is wrong to say that this is a Simon Steensland album with Sten Sandell guesting, or vice versa; although both were involved in the playing and/or writing of most tracks, there is at least one track each that is written and played by only one of these artists. Also playing on this album are Morgan Agren and Mats Oberg of Mats/Morgan.

Musically, this is an interesting album, but uneven. It starts off strong, the first two tracks (Song and Wrong) featuring the distinctive sound of Simons bass creating the rhythms, which Sten does some rather interesting wordless vocal work over. These two tracks definitely emphasize the vocal work more than the other instruments, but the vocals are interesting enough to deserves the center stage. (They do return later on in the album too, but to my ears these are the best instances of his vocal work here).

For me, nothing else on the album is quite as interesting or accessible as the first two tracks, which is a shame. The music is enjoyable, great sonic textures and playing, but at times it can sit on the repetitive side of things. This is definitely music that warrants several listens for the various textures to have time to sink in. And they are definitely the leading elements here.

To get the most out of this album, you must truly listen to it - leaving it playing in the background will cause you to miss a lot of the details that make the music interesting. Each note is carefully placed to build the mood and atmosphere of the music. Unfortunately, towards the end (around "7/8 + 3/4"), the album starts to drag. Still, there's lots to enjoy, especially for fans of Simons music, for his fingerprints are all over. Although it is also the least "immediate" of his works I have heard thus far.

Even for fans of Simon Steenslands other albums, this album is a bit of an odd bird. It's not exactly a studio album, for the music contained on this disc was not written to be released as part of an album. Instead, the tracks here are collected as a representation of what Simon writes when he writes music for theater.

If you've heard any of Simon Steenslands other albums, you probably know that he tends to write music that is rather odd. Of course, he is listed under RIO/Avant so such is probably expected - but in reality, the stuff he is involved with are far from anything else I have heard to date. He is apparently all self taught both in playing and composing, and I think he is an artist where having an approach to music that he came up with on his own has really worked well.

Although this music is intended for the stage and is in many cases utilitarian - as he explains in the liner notes, some of the music is written to be played while the cast changes the set, etc. - there is still some really interesting things in here. They never quite go as far as his pure studio albums in terms of interestingness, and in terms of memorable moments I find a lot less contained on here. Still, the variety of sounds enclosed on here (even if some are far too short to really develop very far, with only 14 of the 36 tracks contained surpassing the 2 minute mark) does yield some interesting pieces.

You do have to read along with the liner notes to understand what was happening when the music was playing though. As I have said, Simon's approach to music is quite unique and so there is very little that fits into the conventions one might expect from music that is intended to evoke specific emotions. The sad music, for example, would probably never be heard in Hollywood (for anything really).

Ultimately, the album does suffer from the mix of different music that appears on it. There really is very little cohesiveness to it; even music that comes from the same play, is often split apart on the album. Interesting themes often rely on fade outs instead of closing in more interesting ways. These weaknesses do bring down the value of this collection a decent amount.

This collection should be interesting to you if you are a fan of the man (as I am) or simply want to hear some unorthodox theatre music.