Bjarte Andreassen and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik (also known from Neural Network) is the duo Circular. They have previously released the album "Nanotopia" on Origo Sound in 97, but have moved to Beatservice with the new album "Divergent".
Compared to the debut, "Divergent" is more coherent and solid, almost a conceptual album. The goal was to make a genuine "chill-out" record with a toned down expression, but at the same time experimental. It contains references to the great ambient artists of the 90's like Biosphere, Aphex Twin, Autechre, FSOL, Pete Namlook and Global Communication, and is a respectful tribute to the "classic" ambient style.
This is an ambient masterpiece! Reminiscent of Reload - A Collection of Short Stories and The Future Sound of London and containing many of the chilly landscapes that have made Biosphere famous, this album from Norwegian ambient group Circular shines. Avoiding the pitfall of many ambient albums of settling into much-too-long dronefests, Divergent instead is a series of shorter concepts that give the feeling of being a soundtrack to the ultimate cosmic sci-fi movie. At times melancholic and dark, at other times thoughtful and warm, Divergent is a treat to chill out and listen to. ~ by Steven Oliver Brown
This album has got to be one of the most beautiful ambient albums of the year. What we have here is beatless, gently flowing music with sound effects and the (very) occasional melodic touch. The songs are slowly evolving and merging into eachother, with original and sampled sounds. There are only a few scratches in the paint; using samples from the Blade Runner movie is not exactly original, and neither is vocals of the type "You are a mental institution" with sci-fi reverberation. Other samples work well, like in the jazzy Serene which actually sounds like a contemporary piece of improvised jazz coupled with electronic sounds. One little surprise is Bridge one, were the hiss and noise from an LP is sampled and used as a "beat" (sort of). It adds a human or "dirty" break to the otherwise synthetic sonics. Generally speaking the album has that dark ambience which has been called "arctic". And you will notice influences from Biosphere here (especially Substrata) but as a person actually living not too far from the Arctic areas I see the music more as melancholic and "empty". Yes, there is a certain beautiful emptyness in the music that probably comes from the sparse instrumentation of most tracks, and the slow pace. This is actually one of the very few CDs that I can play in the background while doing something else, like creating these pages or dusting. Normally I get so fascinated by music no matter how ambient or calm it is, that I can't focus on other activities at the same time. So I don't know if this is an intended - and if so, good - property of the album or if it means that the album is not actually capturing my mind. I choose to believe that it is a positive thing about this album - intended or not. All in all a well shaped, innovative and peaceful album coming pretty close to Substrata (but not the band's previous effort, Nanotopia). ~ by Glenn Folkvord
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