The Height of the Reeds

Album review

Arve Henriksen's The Height of Reeds was born of a commission by the city of Hull in Great Britain, to celebrate the longstanding seafaring relationship between the northeast region of England and Scandinavia. It was recorded as the musical companion for a "sound walk" public installation in 2017. Those who took part listened to the original music on headphones while crossing the Humber Bridge. Initially intended for the month of April, the event proved so popular it was extended to May and June as well. This release is presented with only minor adjustments to justify the transition from the walk -- where listeners interacted with the scenery as well as the sound -- to its attendant soundtrack.
The human players include Henriksen (trumpet and voice), Eivind Aarset (guitar and electronics), Jan Bang (samples and programming), and the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Justin Doyle. That said, the Humber Bridge and its surroundings make integral contributions, courtesy of field recordings made by sound artist Jez Riley French. While the breathtaking landscape is missing, the sonic architecture and careful playing from the musicians as they interact with the filed-recorded sounds creates its own unforgettable, experiential aesthetic.
Henriksen's humid, blurry trumpet and his otherworldly falsetto voice inhabit and interact with the other players and sounds on these nine inseparable pieces. Throughout he offers subtle variations on a lone timbral articulation. Bang paints not only his horn sounds but the very air that escapes from it. Aarset's electric guitar seldom resembles one; it is heavily treated so as to become a patchwork of sonics and textures for the others -- including the field recordings -- to communicate with, evidenced beautifully by "The Swans Bend Their Necks Backward to See God." The orchestral and chorus music was arranged by Alexander Waaktaar; it provides Henriksen with a fairly large musical soundscape that acts as a multi-textured palette, which he reacts to and draws from. Even if it is deliberately limited in tone and timbre, the chamber orchestra offers a more multi-dimensional focal point for Henriksen's concentration; this is illustrated beautifully on the most vanguard piece here, "Is There a Limit for the Internal?" While the brief "Nymphs and Eurasian Horses" is little more than an interlude, it bridges the canny interplay between choral voices, strings, trumpet, and guitars on one side, and bridge, sea, and wind on the other. Later compositions such as "Waders" and closing single "Pink Cherry Trees" reflect Bang's ability to use muted percussion sounds to extrapolate something exotic from Henriksen's economic musicality in a manner that recalls Jon Hassell's 1983 offering Aka/Darbari/Java. As a whole, The Height of Reeds is a wonderfully imaginative work, equal parts reflection and homage. The set sits comfortably between Henriksen's 2003 album Chiaroscuro (also with Bang) and 2013's hauntingly beautiful Places of Worship. Unlike similarly conceived recordings, this doesn't act as a pleasant backdrop for engaging in other activities; instead, it quietly refuses revelation without active participation from the listener.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo