So much of modern music clamors for your attention that it is all too easy to overlook more subdued releases with an unassertive, meditative quality. This is a pity since, as Norway's Håkon Stene observes, these discs have the ability to "probe in a profoundly emotional way" engaging the listener at a deeper level.
Stene's background as a percussionist is in noise music or complex contemporary works, but for this work he makes a conscious shift towards greater subtlety and simplicity.
He finds inspiration in modern minimalists Gavin Bryars and Laurence Crane and the album includes pieces by both these British composers - Hi Tremolo and Blue Blue Blue respectively.
Stene plays vibraphone, marimba, guitars and keyboards while guest musicians on the album are pianist Heloisa Amaral, cellist Tanja Orning, Hans Kristiabn Kjos Sørensen on cimbalom and Christian Wallumrød who plays piano on his own luminous composition Low Genths.
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Extended notes on a piece like Riis have a calming effect and the slowly evolving tones in general would make a perfect musical accompaniment to a time lapse film of a tree growing or a flower coming into bloom.
In short, this album is so rich and nuanced that the ultimate insult would be to dismiss it as anonymous background music.
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