On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever

Idioma disponible: inglés

A pioneer of the Scandinavian nu-disco movement alongside the likes of Todd Terje or Prins Thomas, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm was commissioned in the summer of 2018 to create the soundtrack to a piece of performance art at the Henie Onstad centre in Oslo, Blinded by the LEDs. For this occasion, the Norwegian producer decided to forgo his main instrument, his computer, instead favouring modular synthesisers and manually controlled machines. This shift ended up heavily influencing his latest album: with four tracks each about ten minutes long, Lindstrøm is redefining his relationship with electronic music production, to which he attributes certain classical music structures.

On the first track, On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever, he makes his synthesiser play like a violin; with a clever use of space, it is a minimalist but very lyrical piece of music, like it was concocted in a pianist’s brain. The beat returns on Really Deep Snow but is never put to the forefront of the track, the arpeggiator synth providing a thoughtful aspect to this impressionist painting of sound. Melodically refined, Lindstrøm, who seems to be thriving, has never captured so many emotions on an album until this one, which is doubtlessly his boldest but most accomplished work yet. “The joy of making music on physical objects all makes sense now, he explains. After having worked on a computer for fifteen years, I don’t think I will ever go back.” Lindstrøm 2.0 is worth keeping an eye on! © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz