On their third release, this Norwegian duo of Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik and Rune Andre Sagevik continue to channel an organic warmth that would stick out so blatantly in their cold homeland, mixing unidentifiable sounds with bits of traditional sounding music. Tele sounds like the natural follow-up to 2010's Sval, fleshing out the concepts there with a greater sense of polish and experience.
Some of the tracks on Tele are less about music but seemingly more about experimentation and sound art.The microscopic percussive fragments of "Fnugg" and textural pops of "Gnesis" exemplify this: while the former is too brief of a piece to develop much, the latter works in deep, bassy pulses and bellowing, horn-like sounds that are less about melody and more about collage."Flint" also resembles a layering of bizarre sounds and effects in a more experimental context, complex but not messy.The deep blurps of sound and slightly noisy leads stand out, however, giving it a slightly different quality.
Things differ on "Skifer," with its low thump and ambience almost resembling conventional music, which is only increased by what sounds like clanging guitar here and there. "Granitt," also, with its rhythmic almost synth-like line, feels more musical, despite the abstract sounds and layers around, resulting in a varied, yet consistent singular piece.
Everything is encapsulated in the closer "Polar," which opens with a barren, industrial hum and a distant, bellowing foghorn.For the first half it sticks mostly to the open-ended, abstract pastiches of sound until a clanging and metallic, but melodic sequence pops up, bringing some guitar with it.While it in no way sounds conventional, the guitar and melody comes together to end the piece (and the album) on a much more musical note.
If there is a weakness to this album, it is a minor one.There does not feel like a consistent theme or feeling that brings all nine of the tracks together, so it does not feel like it completely gels.Now, that is not to say that this comes across like a random collection of sounds or tracks, because that is not the case either.Instead it is in some middle ground, not disjointed, but not overly cohesive either.Tele nicely balances the worlds of abstract, deconstructed sounds of unknown origin with some actual, albeit subtle, concessions to music and melody.What it lacks in overall cohesiveness, it makes up for in consistency.
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