Moss Garden

Erik K Skodvin returns with a focused album under his Svarte Greiner moniker, releasing two twenty-minute cinematic compositions, continuing where he left off with Black Tie (MIA 023CD, 2013). "The Marble" patiently sets the tone with a slow moving wall of strings underlaid by a warped bass line. A feeling of weightlessness covers the ground while empty space surrounds the listener in an embracing yet uneasy way. It's a gloomy territory with an unexpected extent of grace to encounter. Time gradually illuminates several stages of light and dark before revealing a desolate wasteland filled with electric organisms. "Garden" strikes heavily with rattling string hits and low bass waves quivering through your skull, transforming the scenery into a fallow that is staring right back at you. This could easily be the soundtrack to a nightmarish sleeplessness if it wasn't for carefully scattered comfort zones to be found in unknown territory - what appears to be violent at first soon reveals sheer reflective beauty. However, it is patience and repeated listening that liberate the aspired altered state of consciousness. Originally composed for Marit Folstad's installation art, Moss Garden more than ever consolidates Erik Skodvin's individual idea of soundscape. His approach can be interpreted as an embodiment of the word "Terrific" amelioration: Developing from "Terrifying" over "Intense" to it's modern understanding in a little more than two centuries, Svarte Greiner reenacts this metamorphosis within a single recording. CD version of Svarte Greiner's 2016 album, previously only available on vinyl (MIA 037LP); Comes in a digipak sleeve; Includes a download code; Edition of 400.