Bjarni Gunnarsson is an Icelandic composer and software engineer, based in The Netherlands, whose work is involved with computer music and algorithmic composition. It specifically concerns process-based ideas. He composes music focused on internal activity, fluid sound-structures of forms.

'UPICS' is his latest album, released on Flag Day Recordings. It is the outcome of Gunnarsson's research into database-driven reconstructions based on sound analysis, created with the UPIC system, which you can read about on the Bandcamp page.

These compositions are cold and unnerving eruptions of fuzzy synthetic noise patterns, erratic blips, glitchy ambience, laser-like frequencies, sinister rumblings, stuttering static, and a plethora of other unsettling and unpredictable sonic abstractions. They contain a dark inner world of rapidly fluctuating sound patterns, shapes, modulations and waveforms.

At times quiet and ominous, at other times violent and jarring...this album is a chaotic hive of bizarre artificial internal activity. This music is both frightening and dazzling. And undeniably unique listening experience.

Whoever knows me a bit, knows how much I love Bjarni’s music. When in 2019 I moved to the Netherlands, one of the main reasons was to get the opportunity to follow his lessons on algorithmic composition at the Institute of Sonology. His maximalist noise creations are built from extremely appealing sonic processes obtained through algorithms that follow the tradition initiated by Ιάννης Ξενάκης [Iannis Xenakis], Gottfried Michael Koenig and Herbert Brün.

Bjarni is a great enthusiast of non-linear synthesis techniques, that he carefully crafts through incredibly clever algorithmic structures and then arranges with a more linear editing approach. The result is always stunning, incredibly rich and vivid, with abstract sound surfaces morphing and colliding in a ceaseless flow of transformation. His sounds are like electrified mineral formations being quickly shaped by unknown meteorological events, possibly evoking the stunningly hostile Icelandic environment where he grew up.

Whereas in the last few years Bjarni has crystallized in more or less the same sonic world, Upics is clearly a different outcome. The sound materials for the album date from 2006-7, when he was at the CCMIX institute of Paris, where he used the UPIC software developed by Xenakis, a memorable environment that allowed to manually draw waveforms. These sounds apparently remained abandoned in a folder for years, until Bjarni came back to them using novel techniques of algorithmic manipulation of large sound databases, in a fashion that has recently become an interest for many electroacoustic composers such as James Bradbury and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. Nevertheless, the music retains Bjarni’s characteristic aesthetic made of highly abstract, austere, and elegant inharmonic sound processes involving varying degrees of probability and inter-relatedness in their micro-sonic structure, while the overall form respects the traditional sections of different density and dynamics coming from acousmatic music.

Four years have passed since the last release from Tartaruga Records (Glottalstop’s unique Woodsmoke), and two since Bjarni Gunnarsson‘s Paths. Neither artist nor label is in a hurry. Their patience defies the pace of the outside world. Lueur (Glow) is an intricate lattice of sound, laced with subtle surprises. Some of the shifts cast bright shadows of wonder that surprise even the composer, who writes, “the music is derived from generative processes that often appear directly entangled, that are set in motion and activated while maintaining their own degree of autonomy.” Consider the manner in which a hanging prism refracts color throughout the room; Lueur is its sonic cousin.

The composer’s clusters of sound include drones, crunches, rumbles and static surges. Lueur sounds intensely electrical, like an amplification of telephone wires and hard drives. Despite the music’s complexity, Gunnarsson allows each individual sound to be heard, varying densities and allowing short periods of silence. If sounds were stones, and could be placed in a rock tumbler, this might be the result. While Gunnarsson insists that the music “does not have a clear goal,” trajectories can be intuited, especially when the four tracks are considered as a whole. Sequencing is a component of an album’s story, creating a narrative. In this case, the story seems to be a journey through circuitry, as implied by the abstract cover art; the twist is that this circuitry seems to possess a mind of its own. As our technological society grows more attached to its instruments, the anthropomorphizing of metal will only continue to increase.

Gunnarsson’s explorations reveal dynamic systems of interplay that produce patterns intentional and unintentional, evident in the parabola-shaped “Brackets” but perceivable in the perennial rushes of “Epicycle” as a returning chorus of static. Closing track “Aperture” highlights this cycle of retreat and approach, producing the LP’s most succinct display of volume and implying that we have been headed somewhere all along. As the album sinks into pop and hiss, one is left with a question about electrical objects: do their lives imitate our days? The glow fades like that of a filament bulb, but the impression of light lingers just a bit longer. (Richard Allen)

After Safn 2006-2009, Processes & Potentials and Paths, this is the fourth full release by Bjarni Gunnarsson, and it is no coincidence that each of them are recommended here at Ambientblog. I'm a dedicated 'fan' of the sound of the Icelandic composer (now based in Den Haag, teaching algorithmic composition and computer based music at the Institute Of Sonology). Not only for his impressive albums but also after seeing him perform live (a part of this particular live-set can still be heard on this Concertzender recording of the Fluister show).

Gunnarsson has a distinct personal sound signature that is hard to describe. It is not at all 'ambient' because there are many layers of noise, yet the electroacoustic compositions are calming in their own way. The 'exploration of process as much as tone and texture' uses 'generative processes that often appear directly entangled, that are set in motion and activated while maintaining their own degree of autonomy.'

Lueur ('glow') refers to 'faint, quiet but unsteady light sources'. The four compositions on this album follows its own 'unpredictable' path, ever-changing paths with a lot of adventurous sounds. But they fit together very well – it is not a collection of conflicting extremes. It's a bit like walking through a forest , observing every detail, without losing sight of the complete picture of the forest. (If this sounds like gibberish to you, I suggest you start the Bandcamp stream and listen for yourself.)

For vinyl collectors: the vinyl's sleeve artwork is 'procedurally-generated', meaning that 'variations of each layer are combined to make 16 unique sleeve designs.'

"It's about the journey, not the destination." As I listen to the record, my mind drifts helplessly toward this cliché. I wince as I feel it happening. Yet perhaps thanks to the album title, my experience of Paths centres on this notion; the thrill of unforeseeable turns and ruptures in progress, embracing unexpected diversion as an essential and inevitable means of reaching an end objective. While the destination may reside at a fixed point in the future/distance, the path has the potential to be riddled with erratic chicanes and sudden obstacles.

The album is pocketed with fierce shifts in state – explosions of change that sabotage the idle trundle of time, demolishing gentle blooms of sound to lay the atmosphere to waste all over again. Abstract sound design can be as much a process of destruction as assembly, and Paths manifests as a visceral embrace of this fact.

For an album released at the scorching peak of summer (in England, at least), this feels remarkably like a record built for winter. Many of Gunnarsson's environments are ravaged by harsh blizzards and gale-force winds, blasting their way through passages of stillness like storms blowing windows open in a quiet room. Even the stretches of comparative calm are scenes of imbalance and imminent ruin; sine waves roll like marbles upon table-tops of low drone, while cogs whirr stiffly in the generation of hostile, intermittent jets of cyclically-powered feedback. "Pulsinato" sounds like a broken lightshow, with lighthouse beams painting the darkness with dim illuminations, and busted strobes shivering and waning into the sky. Noises burst into life after stretches of prolonged failure, while drones tilt in and out of microtonal alignment. "Verlat" scans between glutinous dead air, flailing sines and the purrs of alien transmission, with the hands of Gunnarsson flitting anxiously over the dials in restless, sonically nomadic lurches. Within each moment resides the instruments of its own oblivion, pressing against the loose screws of synth chassis and announcing themselves in throbs of electronic alarm.

The path is never completely straight, and Gunnarsson uses every bend as an opportunity to smack me in the face, leaping out of the darkness just as I fall into lulls of faux-stillness, leaving me stinging and blinking in bewilderment as he heaves the music through episodes of guttural overhaul. A violently unpredictable record.

With Paths, Bjarni Gunnarsson continues on an even pace of releasing an album every three years, collecting works that debuted in various festivals and installations. The new set is remarkably consistent, albeit difficult to predict; and that's where the title comes into play.

The average music listener is accustomed to hearing songs that follow a specified pattern: for Top 40 music, various permutations of verse-chorus-bridge. Even in experimental music, form is typically easy to discern. Gunnarsson's goal here is to explore other paths, to see where the music takes him instead of the other way around. Opora's cover art, simple at first glance, becomes more complex when viewed as the map of a song or album. It doesn't seem to make sense; but then it does. The same holds true for Gunnarsson's music.

The first play is the most surprising, as the only constants are the slow, non-tempoed pace and the tonal cluster. Gunnarsson favors a mixture of low rumble and higher pitch, with granular textures and clouds of drone. And clearly – because this must happen in any piece – certain sections are louder than others. But the direction of each track – duration, amount of repetition, timing, stereo effect – is impossible to predict. This makes that very first spin a fascination. Fortunately, the complexity of these five pieces allows for a number of repeated plays before any familiarity sets in. This is where interpretation becomes a little dicey, because the path is now set in the listener's mind. One knows exactly when to expect the high frequency, the low drone, the momentary silence, the drift from left speaker to right. The effect is akin to that of a physical path, which typically begins with a crunch through underbrush, a few trampled blades of grass, a footprint where rain can collect. As more people discover the path, it grows cleaner, more predictable, well-trodden, even paved.

Not that music like this will ever become popular; the tracks are too long for radio, the entry points too narrow. The music takes a while to comprehend, and even then, one wonders how much is composed and how much is the result of random interface, adopted into composition. Use whatever phrase you prefer: off the beaten path, blazes its own trail, the road less traveled. Gunnarsson's paths are worth investigating for the sonic discoveries they reveal. (Richard Allen)

The tracks on this album are 'reduced, combined and rearranged' stereo versions of various multichannel compositions created for festivals in Reykjavík, The Hague and Paris. Which raises one question in particular: why not release a multichannel 5.1 version of these pieces too? I understand this of course: stereo recording is still the main way to go for most listeners, but listening to this music I cannot stop thinking how devastating this must have sounded in multichannel surround. But even 'reduced' to stereo versions, these pieces display a fascinating 'spatial configuration', 'exploring the contact between composed computer sound structures and space'.

If you're familiar with his previous albums Safn and Processed and Potentials you'll know what to expect, but if you're not you should be prepared for an immersive, highly energetic stream of electro-acoustic sounds: Bjarni Gunnarsson's trademark 'sounds focussing on internal activity and motion. Compositions that put into foreground behaviors, actions, fluid sound structures, fuzzy materials or forms. Music without sharp boundaries'. There are only few moments of rest (like in Pulsatiles) – most of the album is highly dynamic, like travelling at high speed. At véry high speed, not knowing what you might encounter the very next moment! This album is definitely at its best when played at a high volume.

Apart from being a faculty member at the Institute of Sonology (The Hague) and teaching algorithmic compositions and computer music, Bjarni Gunnarsson is also known as one half of Einoma.

Of course I might be wrong, and I did hear of Bjarni Gunnarsson, but a quick survey of the old weeklies learned that this might be my first introduction to his work, despite having releases on Vertical Form, Thule, Uni:form, Spezial Material, Trachanik, Lamadameaveclechien, Shipwrec and 3LEAVES — and some of these labels actually make it to these pages.

On 'Paths' we find five pieces, which originally were part of three multichannel pieces, but of course now turned into stereo. The title may refer to the routes the sounds travel to various speakers hanging in space. This is an area that is of much interest for Gunnarsson and he worked in various studios offering such sound surround speakers, including the WFS system in Berlin, which has 832 speakers. He studied with people like Trevor Wishart and Curtis Roads and teaches now in The Hague himself.

The five pieces on this CD are quite vibrant pieces of computer music with a very classical touch in terms of musique concrete. His pieces bounce up and down and go all over the place, and one never recognize any of the original sound input. I am sure all of the classical tools are used, such as max/msp or Ina/Grm tools to transform these sounds ad infinitum. It's easy to see how this would work if it would be played on more speakers; leaping up and down, side ways and spinning out of control, even when a piece is quiet, such as 'Pulsatiles'. This is not music to settle down with and keep quiet, but is quite a major tour de force, which needs quite a bit of volume for it's playback.(FdW)

Le moins que l'on puisse dire (je pense) à propos de Bjarni Gunnarsson (live electronics, trois disques à son actif pour le moment) c'est qu'il sait travailler les sons. La preuve avec le CD Paths dont les figures sont composées d'aigus qui frétillent et de basses qui vous enveloppent plus que chaleureusement… mais est-ce suffisant?

Car si les sons rappellent (par exemple) ceux de Strotter Inst., les compositions du Suédois ne donnent pas dans le répétitif crescendo. Non, mais plutôt dans une abstraction à géométrie variable avec son lot d'élucubrations soniques, de percées lumineuses et de chausse-trappes sordides, jusqu'à ce que Gunnarsson nous plante là, en plein milieu d'une ambient à vous donner le tournis (et c'est ce qui arrive). Que faire d'autre si ce n'est entendre / regarder / profiter de ce que l'Islandais nous a préparé? Spatial et plus que spécial!

Wie Bjarni Gunnarssons Album »Processes & Potentials« erscheint auch »PATHS« nur in einer schön gestalteten kleinen CD-Auflage – gerade mal 100 Exemplare gibt es, ein echtes Sammlerstück also, was angesichts Gunnarssons Nähe zur Kunstszene durchaus schlüssig ist. Nachdem der Vorgänger vom ungarischen Label 3LEAVES veröffentlicht wurde, wird »PATHS« von Granny Records in Thessaloniki herausgebracht. Klar, nun erwartet man ohnehin nicht, dass Musik dieser Art ein großes Publikum anspricht und zum Bestseller avanciert, doch ist es selbst für Fans des Genres ein wenig bedauerlich, dass Gunnarssons musikalisches Schaffen zu einer derart marginalen Wahrnehmung verdammt wird.

Wie zuvor entstanden auch diese fünf Tracks im Rahmen mehrerer Soundinstallationen (Reykjavík, Den Haag, Paris), und obwohl sie aus jenen Multikanal-Klangkunst-Kontexten für die CD zu Stereoversionen verdichtet wurden, bildet »PATHS« in 53-minütiger Albumform ein vollkommen überzeugendes, feingliedriges Ambient/Noise-Epos. Dabei ist es weder das eine noch das andere, kann ebenso die Avantgardefraktion der Neuen (Computer-)Musik einnehmen wie Liebhaber von rigoroser Geräusch-Komposition und kunstvollem Ambient mit ausgefeilten Texturen. Absolute Empfehlung für jeden, der das Schaffen von Lawrence English, Ben Frost, Mika Vainio und Tim Hecker schätzt.

The first time I heard Bjarni Gunnarsson's Icelandic composer and sound artist was under the moniker of Einóma with his releases in the English Vertical Form imprint and also for his albums that were released on Lamadameaveclechien and 3LEAVES. He also has published on Thule, Spezial Material and Shipwrec, among other labels. He is a member of the faculty at the Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatory of The Hague and currently professor of algorithmic composition and computer music.

Gunnarsson is interested in composed computer sound structures and space. His works have been featured in several spatial configurations as at the WFS system in Leiden (192 speakers), the WFS system in Berlin (with 832 speakers), the BEAST system in Birmingham (up to 100 speakers) and the GRM in Paris, among other performances. "Paths" is a five piece album of minimalist compositions that unfold in a space where the computer generated sounds shape microscopic and granular textures. Sometimes almost imperceptible, however, its depth allowed delve into disquieting and cold atmospheres.

3leaves is known for their experimental leanings, but their latest release is one of their most abrasive yet, a far cry from the field recordings that have been their bread and butter. It's also one of the label's finest releases to date.

Fans of Icelandic musician Bjarni Gunnarsson have been waiting a long time for Processes & Potentials to appear. Some of these tracks have been percolating on Soundcloud for months, tantalizingly close but just out of reach. The album forms a perfect bookend to Safn 2006-2009, as these new pieces were recorded in the ensuing years. (A personal plea to Gunnarsson: we're still missing "Samarin", "Angst" and "Grey Seeds"; please consider an audiovisual release!)

Gunnarsson's primary interest is in "process-based ideas … sounds based on internal activity and motion". This is a perfect description for his solo work, although he also applies this approach to collaborative projects including mgbg (electronic / vocal improvisation) and Einóma (IDM). It's easy to see where the line has been drawn, as beats and vocals would seem out of place on Processes & Potentials. On this album, drone is the home base from which every sound is free to wander. And wander they do. Whether crunch or warble, pierce or ping, these electronic sounds travel the full length of the spectrum, loud to soft, high to low, thick to thin. Glitch is involved, but not in IDM fashion; the pops provide impressions of spark plugs and static surges. The music often reboots, allowing new patterns to emerge from silence. While no linear narrative is apparent, the use of related tones ties the album together. The collection's best asset is its refusal to play by the rules. Melodies can be gleaned where no melodies have been written. A mind in search of clarity may perceive a sense of order, but even Gunnarsson admits that these pieces began as half-maps and mazes. To listen is to be lost on a small island; one knows that one will always find the shore. (Richard Allen)

"Processes and Potentials" is the latest work by Icelandic composer Bjarni Gunnarsson. Meticulously presented by the 3Leaves label "Processes and Potentials" is Gunnarsson's attempt to explore theories of compositional practise within the realm of computer-generated sound. Over the course of 6-tracks we hear minimalist clicks, airy drones, rumbles and scratches panning from left to right. Elements that would normally create cohesion, such as rhythms and melodic structures, are missing. Instead continuity is achieved through the sounds themselves, all of which are heavily dependent upon computer synthesis. A relationship exists between their timbre and tone unifying what could otherwise have been a muddle of disparate sound.

In 2012 Gunnarsson completed his Masters Thesis titled "Processes and Potentials: composing through objects, networks and interactions" at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague. The tracks on Processes and Potentials were composed to support Gunnarsson's thesis. Although Gunnarsson's work can be enjoyed as a stand-alone project, a more informed listening experience can be gained by reading the thoughts that influenced his creative process. Gunnarsson writes about the need to change his compositional process from one that is "goal-oriented" to one which allows musical moments to unfold more naturally. One of the first steps in this process is to acknowledge the ways in which material elements should instruct the compositional process. In addition Gunnarsson questions the relationship between the psychological perception of time and music. What creates the feeling of "now"? Does music hold a single "now"? Do we understand music through a series of non-linear memories? Just as we construct memory Gunnarsson believes that music can be experienced as "being like a chain of musical events. How these chains are formed and how the links between elements are made is what makes the whole for a piece of music". This theory guides Gunnarsson's compositional process in "Processes and Potentials".

Theories aside, the success of "Processes and Potentials" is that it exists as its own entity independent from Gunnarsson's academic realm of production. A dark, almost claustrophobic, world of miniatures crackles from beneath the surface of walls and earth. The mood continues from one piece to another without ever rising to any dramatic moments of crescendos or diminuendos or noticeable melodic structures. This could be suspenseful or monotonous depending on your personal taste. For those who are interested in minimalist computer generated sounds this is one release that is definitely worth listening to.

Titles for the six pieces on Gunnarsson's Processes & Potentials are included, as are six square inserts displaying nature-based photos by Cedric Dupire. But while both are allusive, the material is otherwise free of informational context, and one thus engages with the album more at the level of pure listening. The product of three years work, Processes & Potentials is a combustible affair of fluid, mutating sounds that, as astutely noted by its creator, "consists not of things, but of events, and as such is best understood as being a process." Compared to the MUfi.re release, Gunnarsson's is considerably denser and often suggests an accelerated transformational flow of geological design. The hardness of certain sounds draws a connection to earth materials, whereas the rapid changes are more suggestive of liquids. Restless and dynamic, the six settings are volatile constructions that can induce some degree of delirium in the listener attending closely to their rapid-fire fluctuations. Sensitive to the benefits of contrast, Gunnarsson follows the aggressive pitch of the opening two settings with an initially quieter excursion (the woozy "Momentaries"), even if blasts and cavernous rumblings eventually surface. Interestingly, as the recording progresses, one comes to realize that the wealth of micro-detail packed into its pieces makes Processes & Potentials as much resemble a computer-based collection (by someone such as Florian Hecker or Francisco Lopez) as a field recordings-based one. Finally, on presentation grounds, both releases are packaged in 3LEAVES' by now standard but nevertheless distinctive black case design.

Processes & Potentials is the work of Icelandic composer Bjarni Gunnarsson. Gunnarsson works with process based ideas and Processes & Potentials is concerned with internal activity and motion. The sounds are intricate and detailed but it's the drone that underpins much of this, cut with glitches, static surges, fizzing tones, and micro tones, both harsh and soft, that makes the entire thing sound cohesive.

On 'Aukera' textured tones scrape and crackle with quieter passages of atmospheric hum, which shimmer and circle. It's physical, almost like Pan Sonic's experimental noise, but there are no dance beats or obvious melodies on Processes & Potentials to make this palatable. Processes & Potentials is deeply immersive due to its intricate blending of micro detail. Sounds appear and reappear in what may appear an almost indiscriminate manner, but as Gunnarsson states "On this album it is important how sound processes behave, how they relate and how they occur. The seemingly organic sound-world of the work is all created from ideas that favour process-based approach to sound and composition." You could listen to Processes & Potentials on random, and the effect wouldn't be diminished, as Processes & Potentials is unified by its use of drones and tones. You can hear that in the following 'Portholes' which carries the crackling and atmospheric hum from the previous track, which at points is like raindrops falling into a industrial hinterland. At other times the sound is much more grainy. Even with its cut-ins and drop-outs there's a fluidity and a constant sense of motion, largely as a result of the drone that runs through most of this. For all of its theorizing, Processes & Potentials isn't even a dry listen. Much of it tends towards harsher sounds, sometimes dropped-in abruptly alongside some hazy droning atmospherics. There's much here that noise and experimental listeners would enjoy.

While much of Processes & Potentials tend towards abrasive sounds, 'Momentaries', starts off more serene with its airy atmospheric hum like oozing gas, as gentle shimmers contrast with the industrialised factory noises and crackling textures. The changes in sound get sharper, and more explosive before its cuts back to the atmospheric hum. The hum continues through 'Signac' but here it's riddled with fizzing effects and reverberating tones. Much more processed sounding is 'Concomitance' with its filtering of sine waves, against a deep, pulsing tone. Brief snatches of airy atmospherics and harsher tones break through to provide a direct lineage to earlier tracks. The final piece, 'Pedicel', moves from harsh panning drones littered with hiss and crackle, which cuts to an assemblage of abrupt changing textures with a ringing atmospheric drone that gets progressively louder cut with abrasive layers.

Over its 6 tracks you could argue that Processes & Potentials doesn't really deviate from its core sounds but Gunnarsson varies the tones and timbres throughout. It is it's reliance on drones and tones that results in its cohesiveness that veer towards the harsher ends of the noise spectrum which should appeal to noise and experimental listeners. Academics and sound theorists may think otherwise. Whether this is true of Bjarni Gunnarsson's previous work I can't say but Processes & Potentials delivers enough abrasive sounds to warrant the attention of our readers. For more information go to www.3leaves-label.com

Ambient-Noise (oder Noise-Ambient) aus Island bekommt man (leider?) nicht alle Tage zu Gehör. Überhaupt scheint in Skandinavien dieses Genre nur wenige Vertreter hervorgebracht zu haben. Bjarni Gunnarsson aus Reykjavik gelang es direkt mit seinem ersten Soloalbum, der Kollektion »Safn 2006-2009« in der Szene auf sich aufmerksam zu machen. Mit dem zweiten allerdings setzt er mehr als einen starken Akzent — »PROCESSES & POTENTIALS« kann überzeugend mit den Großen des Genres mithalten, vor allem mit dem Werk Mika Vainios alias Ø, der im aktuellen Jahr gleich drei höchst unterschiedliche Alben veröffentlichte.

Ganz so in die stilistische Breite wie der finnische Kollege geht Gunnarsson freilich nicht. Seine knapp fünfzig Minuten dichte CD besticht gleichwohl durch eine starke eigene Haltung und Sprache. Auch wenn die Klangbilder teils scharf und aggressiv auftreten, beeindrucken die sechs Tracks durch eine eigenartig souveräne innere Ruhe und weit fließende dramatische Bögen. Beats (wie etwa bei Pan Sonic oder Vainio) kommen quasi gar nicht erst vor, aber aus der zwischen den Polen Ambient und Noise entstehenden Dynamik hinterlässt das Album dennoch einen solchen Eindruck.

Das Album erscheint in einer teils handgemachten Edition bei Ákos Garais 3LEAVES-Label, das sich auf die Fahne geschrieben hat, Künstler zu unterstützen, die sich durch eine »gewisse Sensibilität gegenüber ihrer Umgebung« auszeichnen und ihr Verhältnis zu dieser Umwelt erforschen, in Form von Musik zwischen Sound Art und Field Recordings. Klingt intellektuell, und Gunnarsson kann mit seinem Ansatz mühelos einer solchen geistigen Anforderung standhalten; seine musikalischen Ergebnisse sind allerdings auch ohne jeden Wissenshintergrund eindringlich zu genießen, jedenfalls wenn man mutige intuitive Stile schätzt und sich gerne aus der Komfortzone herauslocken lässt. (ijb)

Over three years since the release of his impressing debut album ‘Safn 2006-2009‘ (which collected some of his earlier solo work), Bjarni Gunnarsson (from Reykjavik, also known as one half of Einóma) presents the second full album release under his own name.

The beautiful package of ‘Processes & Potentials‘ contains 7 colorful inlays, one for the cover and one for each of the six different tracks of this album.

Just like he did on ‘Safn’, Bjarni chooses his musical position wilfully, creating soundscapes that are remarkably different from most in current ambient/electronic music.

His sounds can be harsh and noisy but at the same time it moves calmly and slowly, to surround the listener into a totally immersive soundscape. It is impossible to determine if the sound particles originate from microscopicly detailed fieldrecordings, or from electronic signals from beyond the outermost range of space – or even both.

“Processes are defined by the way they do things instead of what they are. On this album, it is important how sound processes behave, how they relate and how they occur.”

“We can think of the world as being made of actual ‘occasions’. (…) The actual occasions are occurrences emerging from practical events, each of which comes into being and then disappears, only to be replaced by a successor. If these experiences form the basic realities of nature then in my opinion this is also a very realistic description of this album.”

With this concept, the nature of its sounds and its unexpected dynamics, “Processes & Potentials“ can not simply be labelled as ‘ambient’ in its strict sense. (“Sound Art” would be a better description). But the “liquid and intuitive development” (Tobias Fischer) of the sounds definitely feels natural in a somewhat paradoxical way. Just go with the process flow…!

This album is for the more adventurous experimental ambient listener, being of the hissy, squeaky, metallic, squooshy sound art bent. But Gunnarsson is pretty darn adept at manipulating mood with these pieces, which puts him in the class of such luminaries as Kim Cascone, Pan Sonic, Alva Noto (though not nearly as minimal) and Robert Henke (whose Signal to Noise must be considered a classic by now), as well as the clear influence of the very challenging genre of early tape music (Stockhausen, Dockstader, etc). Being who I am, the gong-like tones underpinning “Momentaries” are more my speed, but let’s say if you like this avant garde stuff, I guarantee you will find this an interesting and accomplished listen.

Talking about Icelandic music. This is an excerpt from 'Processes and Potentials', the new Bjarni Gunnarsson album on 3Leaves. Bjarni is one half of the duo Einóma, who released some very distinctive yet quite obscure albums the last 10 years. Releases by Einóma have become a bit scarser lately, but the two members have been working on their solo projects for a while now. Bjarni did some great audiovisual stuff with Cedric Dupire lately. 'Processes and Potentials' could be the nonlinear & experimental core sound of Einóma, but unwilling to give in to anything you ever heard before. It's excellent: full of grainy textures & microsounds that flitter all over the place. The detailed meticulous sound reminded me a bit of Rashad Becker's recent, appraised album on PAN. It is maybe even more singleminded. Standout tracks are 'Momentaries', firmly held together by some kind of deep drone & 'Concomitance' with it's metallic dehumanized voices at the end. I still haven't absorbed everything. Have to listen again a couple of times. Bjarni's 'music' is demanding & extremely complicated. But for me this is definitely one of the best experimental albums of this year. Out on October 1rst.

Bjarni Gunnarsson’s Processes & Potentials is underpinned by a series of beliefs about the nature of processes, transformations and events. Although the sleeve notes explain some of what is supposed to be going on I should really say something about the composer’s mission statement. It’s possible that the simulation of chemical or biological processes is an attempt to defy linearity (or the perception of linearity), in which case gestural activity and its behaviour will be crucial, as will the complexity of relationships between different layers, their interpenetration and miscibility. This is a bold mission. On a different tack Gunnarrson would also seem to be advocating a compositional approach which is guided by the qualities and attributes of the materials to hand, allowing them to inform the work as it unfolds, instead of working from a preconceived plan or score. This much is usually expected within the contemporary electroacoustic idiom. Plenty is said then about process, some of which I don’t understand fully, but it would seem as if a process is made of events as opposed to things, which I also don’t understand because an event can also be a thing. You could of course take the view that none of this is particularly relevant to the music which has its own measure of complexity without the subtext.

As first impressions go Aukera is a dense piece, and harsh on the ears at times. It is also very loud, as are all the individual pieces in terms of high average levels and reduced dynamic range, which places the album in the same mastering domain as pop music or some electronic noise forms from the look of the squared-off waveforms. The overall impression is of a very involved and dense totality but on closer listening there’s less activity going on between the different levels of composition and more in the way of crossfading between enveloped layers. Some of the electronic blips are rather hackneyed as are some moments where the whoosh of panned broadband sound come straight out of the academic acousmatica handbook, though in the second wave of this particular piece some interesting sounds begin to develop.

Portholes offers a crackly and noisy hiss with a cacophony of metallic sounds and electronic squiggles, all somewhat familiar from the core of the concert electroacoustic idiom. The music becomes well-paced with the introduction of tonal passages and machine-like sounds. There follows a somewhat predictable return to the first sounds, then to a more static interlude which at least gives the piece a feeling of an evolving linear structure. What I don’t hear is any great effort at creating inner dynamic morphological investigation across the various micro-, meso- and macro- levels of the work, which would have convinced me that processes were indeed being investigated in depth. The piece ends with a return to the more tonal passage which then morphs slowly into machine-like sound with crackly textures.

Momentaries is even more tonal, almost orchestral as a nascent chord emerges and then recedes in different inversions. Eventually the hissy bits return, as expected, though less forcefully than in the previous pieces. Here Gunnarsson is still working with simple polyphony in crossfaded layers and, again somewhat predictably, something of the alien movie begins to creep in. More whooshing sounds reappear– is this the consistency across the work that we read about in the sleeve notes – similarity in timbres appearing and reappearing throughout? I still haven’t heard much transformation in the liquid sense – perhaps what he means is the representation of these processes as in perhaps a film score accompanying a visual presentation of the various processes. There is certainly something of the mad-scientist-in-his-lab going on and indeed there is plenty of this kind of music currently doing doing the rounds. The bump and fizzle of the ending once again presents us with a fine textbook acousmatic gesture to end the piece.

Signac – more crackle and hiss with a fine low end. If it wasn’t for the hissy crackly stuff then something more recognisably ‘musical’ might be heard to develop. The condiments run the risk of overpowering the main dish. There are some effective efforts at creating variety in the flow of the piece, with some harsh cuts and even a synthy sweep, again very sci-fi and filmic. The listener will inevitably come away with the feeling that a lot of compositional attention has gone into producing these pieces, in a conventional sense: change of pace, flow, some effort at varying dynamic range, contrast and so on, and, if this is a compositional virtue, a recurrence of similar sounds in different combinations. Many of the foregrounded sounds could be machines or simulated machine sounds. I’d guess that these are not field recordings – if they are then they are heavily processed and would benefit from having retained some of the rough edge that field recordings can offer. Again the overall structure is a fairly simple 2 – 4 part polyphony.

If one listens carefully Concomitance is not too different from the others. This leaves you, depending on your interpretation, with either a very tight sound world or lack of variety. A justifiable reason for the introductory compositional mission statement might be that Gunnarsson wants the listener to lean towards the first interpretation. Some well-shaped dynamics in the helicopter sounds take us again into the realm of solid film sound design, which (with all due respect) is where I think Gunnarsson would excel. The world of robotics, space flight, phasers, the take-off and landing envelopes, the timbres themselves, all beefed up with a good measure of well crafted reverberation where necessary to spread out the elements of the soundworld – it’s all classic stuff. Technically there are some cleverly wrought passages, for example the use of bandpass filtering to foreground low and high sounds at the expense of the the midrange. There is certainly a lot of attention given to varying the frequency range. On the downside the hiss by this point is becoming pervasive and even slightly intrusive.

Pedicel offers us more of the same which makes me wonder why Gunnarsson chose to present this album as six smaller pieces instead of one long piece. Waves of hiss and crackle play over a low drone. The restricted range of timbres forbid any deeper level morphological development which to me is the essence of progressive electroacoustic music, otherwise there’s a risk that you are simply producing linear and/or simple contrapuntal orchestral music with computers. The panoramic activity, as with all the pieces, is excellent. There is some unpredictability in a sudden break to a less frenetic and more tonal episode at around 3 ½ minutes which risks confusing the listener – is the next bit a new piece or is it a contrast as in a slow/fast or loud/soft classical movement?

A lot of hard work has gone into this album and despite my seemingly critical stance, I think that it stands a good bit above many similar works, though largely in terms of compositional craftsmanship as opposed to invention or originality. One element or quality that seems to be lacking is the incisive edge which the use of concrète sounds can bring to the textures.

Finally processes, in the sense that I think the composer wishes to have us understand them, are chemical reactions or other events that result in a transformation. One might listen to the music and imagine such events taking place, though this will depend on the individual’s imagination. For music to act as some kind of analogue to the workings of biological or chemical processes, a much higher degree of complexity would be required in the use of the sonic materials to hand.

Bjarni Gunnarsson’s Processes & Potentialsis released on 3LEAVES

Bjarni Gunnarsson is an Icelandic musician hailing from Reykjavik who has primarily been active as part of electronic duo Einóma, a project he founded almost ten years ago with long term friend Steindór Grétar Kristinsson, and under which banner they have released a handful of albums and EPs on Vertical Form, Uni:form and Trachanik. His debut solo album, enigmatically entitled SAFN 2006-2009, is released in an extremely limited handmade CD edition on Belgian imprint Lamadameaveclechien

While its title could lead to think that this album is actually a collection of unreleased material presumably recorded between 2006 and 2009, it remains unclear whether this is indeed the case. Regardless, this is a very impressive record, and a very consistent one at that. In just seven tracks of stark minimal abstract electronic compositions, spread over nearly fifty minutes, Gunnarsson creates an incredibly complex and haunting sonic universe with very few equals around. His soundscapes are often broken and twisted, fragmented into vibrant sub-sections, themselves articulated around tiny sonic particles and miniature themes. Each of these tracks work on so many levels that it is difficult to actually grasp what is really going on in one seating, yet the way Gunnarsson presents all this is so extremely attractive that it doesn't actually matter much.

Working from sound sources which include acoustic instruments, percussive sounds, environmental noises, processed vocals and distorted electronics, Gunnarsson sets off on a journey which takes him deep into dark and rugged terrains, where nothing is exactly as it seems or really behaves as it should. This could be what the constant tectonic shifts deep beneath the Earth's crust actually sound like. Far from being a pastoral record, SAFN 2006-2009 is disturbing, extremely dense and tortured. It is also a haunting and hypnotic piece of work, which, once it has grabbed hold of its listener, never lets go. After a period of acclimation, how these tracks are actually assembled, or for which exact purpose, become totally irrelevant. Instead, the finer details and multitude of layers and sub-layers start to get more in focus, revealing the underlying cinematic aspect of Gunnarsson's work.

Right from the opening moments of Aftur, the listener is subjected to an assault of statics, threatening noises, unsightly electronics and thunderous percussive slabs. The mood never veers much from this, whether the soundscapes are temporarily softened with ghostly female vocals (Blindni), injected with recordings of wildlife and intricate noise formations (Dried Up), subjected to the regular pounding of a minimal beat (Time Out) or caught in a dense electrical storm (Fingrafjall). As the album progresses, it is as if Gunnarsson was constantly reiterating the nature of his sonic constructions, ensuring that each aspect of the record remains perfectly in sync with the rest for maximum impact.

It is with his solo album that Bjarni Gunnarsson impresses the most though. Its dark, mangled electronics and broken organic soundscapes are so utterly complex yet so fascinating, making this an outstanding record from beginning to end.
SAFN 2006-2009: 5/5

"... It's almost like Pierre Schaeffer's sound objects woke up and started walking around. I found myself selecting certain sounds as characters in the drama that unfolds over the course of the album. In particular, several tracks feature a stick percussion sound, something like a tom-tom or a taiko drum. It signals sectional changes in Aftur; steps out for an expressive, virtuosic closing to Blindi; initiates various sound events in Udrun and Dried Up; drives Time Out forward with a ghostly drum'n'bass. The interaction between the drum and various electronics opening Dried Up would bring to mind a human interaction, except that the skittering electronics sound so alien that I could not imagine any kind of instrumental origin.

The artist's brief statement on the label web site says that "the sound material varies from voices, violins and percussive sounds," so perhaps voices take on a character role as well. They are most prominent on Blindi, where a wordless female choir provides some of the most ethereal drones on the album before they are buried under the effects and lost in white noise. But this is the only track where voices are identifiable as such (except for a brief whisper in Dried Up). But another character is almost a process more than a sound, the transition from pitch to pulses made famous in Stockhausen's Kontakte. Gunnarsson uses this sonic splintering to great effect on several pieces, peeling elements from the drone in layers, possessing them to melodic dissipation, as new sounds emerge to replace them.

If voices, violins and percussive sounds are the source for all of the sounds on the album, the timbral variation is even more astounding. I suspect that he uses original designed sounds as well. The music reminds me also of Parmegiani, specifically in the way both artists create percussive sound objects and exploring their resonance. In any event, the album has seven tracks, all in the six-eight minute range. The CD is available in two limited editions, by itself, or with a different cover packaged with the Einóma EP. It deserves a wider distribution, and fans of new electroacoustic music should definitely check it out."

Recently, someone told me that it's virtually impossible to get an ambient music album released, while on the other hand labels fall over each other in their enthousiasm to release a new noise title.

(Note we're talking about physical releases here, not about netlabels!) To be honest, I can't say I'm much of a noise addict. There's hardly any good opportunity to play it at home (without tough family protests), and I was not particularly enjoying most 'noise-for-noise sake' live performances I've seen.

But on this recent release, Bjarni Gunnarsson (born 1980, in Iceland as you can probably guess by his name), explores both ambient and noise music at the same time - crossing the borders with a stunning result.

Noise addicts may probably not even consider this 'real' noise, and ambient music devotees may not consider this 'real' ambient, but to me it is both. (Maybe sound art would be a better description).

Gunnarsson has previously released music on different labels as one half of the Einóma duo that released a bunch of maxis and two albums on the Vertical Form label. On Safn 2006-2009, he creates fascinating soundfields that are calm and unnerving at the same time. Though the sound is overtly electronic, the sources are organic: violins, percussion and voice (Blindni).

The album is packed in handmade organic tissue which presents a nice contrast to the music that is presented. Or maybe not so much of a contrast at all, because depending how you will listen, the sounds are also organic in a way. But in a quite unusual way.

One of the first things I noticed about this record was the atmosphere he is able to create. The more ambient parts of these tracks sound very much like soundtracks and could definitely fit into a film, in terms of both sound and sound quality. Very interesting, moving stuff; in fact, while listening you will inevitably start to form moving images in your head.

A lot of times when I get "experimental" stuff from bands I've never heard of, it turns out to be mixed and engineered terribly (or, more accurately, not at all!). Thankfully, that flaw is not present here. The production on this is very good, the sounds are very "big" and "full" sounding, and there is a lot of space in the mixes, which lets the beautiful, haunting ambience leak through the stranger, more chaotic rhythmic sounds. This space also allows the ambience to expand to its full grandiosity.

A couple things about the sounds; one is that the choice of sounds in general is good. The drones and ambient textures are very beautiful. There are some background sound effects which meld with said ambience to help weave visionary auditory tapestries. Then there are other, um, "experimental" sounds; I say that because it's stuff you hear more in glitch/idm...like Alva Noto or Pleq. Those sounds are cool too; they're not just, say, static-bursts, but instead are generally interesting, evolving tones and clicks. Sometimes they match up with the ambient backdrop and sometimes they are on their own, clicky and whooshing in a void.

"Reykjavík’s born music composer and major in computer science has released his first solo effort on Belgium Lamadameaveclechien label. Bjarni Gunnarsson is best known as a member of the electronic duo Einóma with which released several LP’s and CD’s on labels such as Vertical Form, Thule, Spezial Material, among others. "Safn 2006-2009" is a collection of improv pieces and live sets. It’s less beat-driven than Einóma and more focused on organic sounds but a cinematic feeling, haunting music for a dark film. The synthetic sounds are made out of thick layers of abstract noises, echoes, kind of metal percussion and hints of 70’s cosmic music. www.bjarni-gunnarsson.net and www.lamadameaveclechien.com"

For the past two years MGBG (aka Marie Guilleray and Bjarni Gunnarsson) have kept themselves occupied with improvisations based around the integration of voices and electronics on their final six-pack production entitled Korabie.

While experimental may be the first term that comes to mind upon first spin (Einóma’s minimal effects are fully utilized), it’s the crafting of subtle interactions that stand out on this body of work. At times almost silent and alien in construction, voices — both treated and untreated — subliminally reveal themselves as loosened strands forming a web above the uneven electrical landscape. A warm hum of analog synths bend and contort in the most serene patterns as if naturally expelled from the center of the cosmos. Eerie at times, Korabie also blends microscopic audio slivers through a maze of hiccuped vocal stretches. Often crumpled at the edges, these pulses of articulated eruptions ebb and flow delivering soundtrack inspired layers that will either pull you into its disjointed textural hub or deter you from entering altogether. Either way, Korabie is a sublime collision between organic and inorganic ingredients meant for 3am listening.

"This is music created with the heart of high technology and the soul of a spirit world not usually seen with human eyes. The songs here create an emotional resonance that goes beyond just saying they make haunting music. Instead, they offer a fleeting glimpse of the other, the in-between. A presence that makes itself felt with every listen. Special things happen when the lights go dim. Welcome the darkness and let the magic begin. Highly Recommended."

"If their 2002 debut "Undir Feilnotum" announced Einoma's severe splendour with jaw-dropping audacity, then Milli Tonverka ("music that lies between" is the rough translation), goes one better, expanding the palette to include echoes of Coil's distopian grind here, Brian Eno's most exotic ambient tone poems there, though always retaining something uniquely,ineffably icelandic at its core. "Milli Tonverka" is an album of uncompromising highlights. There's the almost jaunty motorik undertow of "Khanin" for example, overlaid with gorgeous, alpine keyboards that suddenly cede to stark caverns of crunching, tactile electronics... this being a courageous second album that takes the sound leaps and bounds into new icy territory. Highly Recommended."

"The clicks are often intense, like the upper regions of a Squarepusher breakdown, which combine with strategically deployed synths and waves of static to create barren, unpopulated synthesized volcanic soundscapes. Where Autechre achieve a kind of equally bleak sci-fi mathematically precise chaos, Einoma tap into something similar but far more primordial. Einoma pack a punch, and one that I'm getting addicted to."

"Iceland's Einóma are one of the very few musicians who craft their audio sculptures with precision in every form of the word... Milli Tonverka stands alone as a highly evocative, inspirational album of deep electronic listening. Stretching through dark corridors of subliminally corrupt digital behavior, Einóma has, once again, planted the seeds for the next generation of constructive musical engineering."

"It may all sound cliched, but never has it sounded better. it's almost a summary of all that's happened in the genre. the mind-twisting sounds, the punkish attitude represented by glitch and distortion, the clever melodies that's present in all great techno.... there are times when something comes along to reaffirm everything you knew about the genre. this is one of those times; a classic and future benchmark."

"The compositions here are very visual in nature,withmulti-layered structures consistently shifting and skulking around. It simply sounds like nothing coming out of Reykjavik today. Within one of the legendary Icelandic Sagas, there is astory called Všlusp‡, which translates to something like "Sybill's Prophecy". In it, there is the tale of Ragnaršk; a time when the sun will become black, the earth will sink into total darkness and the Gods will die, the planet surrounded by an atmosphere of dark magic and hopeless tragedy. Einóma, it seems, have done their homework and have written the perfect soundtrack to the end of the world. You know what? It couldn't sound better.A fabulous and highly original work."

"Like a sequenced electrical storm this disc is a mutated breather from a number of like attempts on contemporary electronic pop music. Part science-fiction and part sensory, Einóma has outdone itself on its debut full-length, is that possible?"

"Calling their sound "chilly", "frozen", "foreboding", and the like may be a gross oversimplification, but Einóma's music has an almost clinical precision. The cavernous yet crisp beats sometimes have the sound of calving icebergs, with combinations of faint, tinkling chimes, icy drones and electronic sighs suggesting frozen, wind-swept vistas populated with flickering entities not seen, but sensed...The two members of Einóma are in a early stage of their career, but on the strength of this release, they are already headed resolutely for the uncharted frontiers. The strength of the music of this CD is that it lets you just far enough in, and shows just enough of itself, that it becomes hard to ignore or dismiss. Fall asleep with this playing on the stereo, and unquiet dreams are almost guaranteed."