Sofie Birch’s output is impressive, but her music is not. For it does not rely on impressive gestures, but leaves its traces gently and subcutaneously in the upper mind, creeps into frontal lobes and dwells there for quite a while, quietly weighing up and down. Her ambient design thrives on small moments of tension woven into sweeping narratives that in turn drag out moments. Subtlety is their real business. For the album »Repair Techniques« on STROOM~, she has now teamed up with similarly minded producer Johan Carøe, also from Denmark, after the two previously collaborated on his debut »zenmetal«. The bit of advance sniffing was probably needed, because the eleven tracks of the album are based on joint improvisations on the synth equipment park, which were subsequently edited and refined with acoustic sounds, make two perfectly attuned to each other people audible. Their spontaneous creation is hardly noticeable in the pieces. Although they sometimes serve a different stylistic style, sometimes evoking the kankyō ongaku of Hiroshi Yoshimura and the organic sound of the 12k label, sometimes even daring to experiment, everything seems finely tuned to each other and leveled, brought into vibration and euphony – in short: very well composed. »Repair Techniques« is one of those rare albums that knows how to impress with very small gestures. A classic Birch album basically, but thanks to Carøe much more than just that.
Anton Friisgaard
Teratai Åkande
STROOM 〰