Pjusk
Tele
Glacial Movements
Normally I don’t write about single tracks, but this one is 53 minutes long and fills an entire CD. Pjusk consists of Rune Sagevik and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik, a pair of Norwegian electronic musicians familiar with the howling winter winds of the North Sea. They specialize in what the Glacial Movements label does best: slow moody soundscapes that rise slowly out of the still waters of a fjord, shake off clinkers of ice, and slowly traverse frozen landscapes, conserving energy by avoiding the repetitive energy consumption of rhythm. I’m not sure this sound can be transcribed by Western musical notation; it seems better set down with nonlinear differential equations and spectrograms highlighted in glowing green magic marker.
It does feel like there are individual songs in this track, but exactly where they start and stop is subject to debate. No silence separates them, and anything as crass as a “shave and a haircut, five cents” ending would undoubted trigger a global thermal catastrophe of Scandinavian Death Metal proportions. I’m scanning Google images, looking at penguins and ice bergs and yes, I know there are no native penguins in Norway but if you’re going for iconic sound, go with the iconic imagery. The soundscapes evokes an avant-garde art gallery opening taking place in the dark, a science fiction galaxy montage in a short film festival, or a slow-motion flight of geese heading for colder climes. Come for the relaxation, but bring a coat and some organic walrus blubber.
Pjusk: http://www.pjusk.no
