Red Shift Swing

Album review

Red Shift Swing is the first CD by the Norwegian duet Alog (Espen Sommer and Dar-Are Haugan). This music was originally improvised, then constructed into hybrids of ambient electronica, post-rock, lounge jazz, and space rock. The result lies somewhere between St. Germain's Tourist and Him. Definitely chill-out, suitable for recliner listening in the wee hours, Red Shift Swing proposes a surprisingly ear-friendly journey. Of course, for anyone not acquainted with the experimental electronica scene of the late '90s/early 2000s, the works of Fennesz, Biosphere, and Noto will have the impression of having landed on an alien planet. The music may be strange, but there are no harsh sounds and no irritating moments for the nubile ear. Field recordings, percussion, guitar, reeds, and synthesizer have been assembled into simple but highly textural tunes, as if a post-rock group was being remixed by Biosphere. Everything remains clouded and blurry, as if heard while daydreaming -- actually the perfect activity while listening to this record. "Tuning the Piano" and "A Regular Hexagon Is Found Traced in the Sand on Some Beach" both delicately transport the listener. "The Travel Light" is too cluttered to be luminescent, but most of the time Alog hit the bull's-eye with their laid-back experiments. Stay away if anything recalling the dreaminess of post-rock gives you a rash.

© François Couture /TiVo