Penumbra
From Judas Kiss Magazine (12/03)
Consisting of field recordings and sampled
sounds recorded during regular visits to Scandinavia
whilst performing as Zoviet France, Penumbra has
intermingled lavishly dark and powerfully hypnotic
soundscapes with them to create a surreal
dream like ambience, in which you could almost
drown in its depth and stirringly compelling cold
beauty, that conjures up the strikingly beautiful
and remote landscapes which make up the majority
of this still relatively unexplored and mysterious
collection of Countries, with the two opening tracks
personifying this sheer beauty. Gliding gracefully
from the hypnotic female vocal samples that
accompany the extremely emotive dark ambient
structures of 'Deep Listening', the album slowly
moves away from this area and introduces more
beat driven sounds and rhythms that intermingle
subtly with the lighter soundscapes that still work as
a backing to the majority of the album, creating a
more chilled out atmosphere as apposed to the
hauntingly captivating aura that the two opening
tracks created, which isn't to say that the rest of the
tracks are dislikeable, on the contrary, it's just that
they take on a different form and move in
slightly different directions whilst shedding the
beauty the opening tracks created. After assuming
a more minimal techno approach the album carries
on with the constant play offs between beats,
electronic sounds and drones, samples and
ambient sculptures until a natural climax is reached
and this magical journey to Scandinavia is finished.
Even if the more beat influenced elements of the
CD aren't appealing the two opening tracks simply
have to be heard to be believed. Good old
Newcastle, it still delivers the goods. LP
New Empire - 100901 (Germany)
Zoviet France can be considered as one of the
electronic pioneers. They are over 20 years in service
now and a release where members of Zoviet France
participate should be something special. Like
Penumbra, a side-project of one half of them.
The CD ³Skandinavien² is a brilliant, silent and
impressing work of ambient and minimalistic electronics.
Soft pulsing rhythms, harmonic soundscapes and
fragile sound-arrangements create an acoustical
picture of a landscape experienced in a dream. The 6
tracks on the album are very extended and so
"Input from Origin" for example offers over 12
minutes of wailing sounds, coming in peaceful
but demanding waves, supported by a warm
rhythm and small beeps and bleeps. Some very
silent samples of natural noises like people
talking, etc. are mixed into the sound sometimes
like on "A week in the blackbox" for example and
all arrangements are brilliant acoustical pictures.
The whole album is very quiet and it needs some
passion to hear it from beginning to the end. There are
of course moments of tension and some louder parts,
but the main part of this album is calm and warm. But if you
have learned how to listen to the music, you will love
this release.
The Crack - Issue 155 (Newcastle, UK)
Penumbra is one member of much sought after
ambient- electronic outfit Zoviet Fracne. Penumbra
delves further into obscurity with the release
Skandinavien, a lo-fi excursion of subtle whirrs,
tweaks and bass rumbling. no formula and no
focus this is a seriously detached an cold records, an
ambient equivalent of the aural violence of Alec Empire
or Janeck Schaeffer. conjures up the fear of being
out in space... alone. Deep, dark stuff, not for
the impatient or feint hearted.
Wreck This Mess - 05032001 (Amsterdam, NL)
"Skandinavien" on Iris Light is great, beautiful,
calming
without being sleep-inducing, provocative without
being grating. Penumbra is a member of Zoviet France
and is in their realm of high quality. Ethereal but also with
a throb and beat. This disc seems to combine the best
of ambient, the best of investigative soundings and the
best of speculative and surreptitious noise.
Acid Attack Music - March 2001
Penumbra is one half of the long running experimental
team :Zoviet 'France who have been on the cutting
edge of electronica from before it was called
electronica! This beautifully arranged disc is a
complete world enclosed in sound. Ambient
passages float effortlessly along taking in field
recording of aircraft interiors. To add colour to
the trance inducing passages of what can only
be described as sound that flow liquid motorik
beats drop down in a very pleasing way, which
emphasise the quieter ambient drone like passages.
The icy sound tones reinforce the theme of the disc,
conjuring cold landscapes and the isolation of an
artist in time. My car broke down last week and I had
to get the bus to and from work, this disc on my headphones
suited the industrial landscape I travelled through easing
from passage to passage with a fluid ease. One of the
things that I find especially interesting is the fact that the
disc changes with the volume that you play it, at high
volume lower frequencies come to the fore altering the
overall sound and feel of the piece. This I know is true for
a lot of electronically sourced sound work but it seems
more readily identifiable on this disc. As a complete disc
this project works well for me , it is one of those c.d.'s
that only truly make sense when you listen to the whole disc
with no break then the sounds and themes map out before
you. A rewarding and interesting voyage.