Håvard Volden — Space Happy
Space Happy is an apt name for the guitar and synth noise odyssey found within. It's not unlike one of the more abstract and deconstructed krautrock albums from Kluster or Tangerine Dream. There are Ozric Tentacles style spiralling arpeggi with white hot chirping acid resonance, and cool, spacious passages of hushed, undulating subterrain siren call. Heavy use of analog delay further contributes to the vintage futurist feeling.
Volden appreciates overloaded, gritty textures of an analog nature, applying more distortion to both the synth and guitar than your average krautrock band. The timbres crackle and spark in their sharpness. Tape saturation provides its signature set of fascinating harmonics, and prevents the distorted sounds from reaching the unpleasant harshness they would in the digital realm.
The 4th piece is entirely different, featuring a guest appearance by Jenny Hval (apparently a longtime collaborator of Volden's). Initially, she speaks a narration in distinctly British accent, but begins singing later in the piece as well, and her voice is layered repeatedly on top of itself, for a kind of ethereal round. Her voice has a pure, angelic tone, and I feel for a moment as if I've been transported to the world of Coil, Dead Can Dance and gothic lunar ambience.
Volden conjures some truly inventive sounds from the guitar, from the forboding, quasi-melodic drift current of "VI" to the satisfying crashes and scrapes of "V", not unlike dropping a box full of metal tools. Sweeping through delay frequencies and other FX parameters, he manipulates the stream of feedback noise into whimsical, jagged shapes wholly unlike a traditional strumming rhythm.
No track overstays its welcome, and many strike stark contrasts to those previous, keeping the album engaging and easily listenable. The full album of 11 songs is only 36 minutes. Conventional musicality, usually in the form of arpeggiated chord work, appears just often enough to add a subtle emotional tint to the entire recording. The dynamic range is wide, from the deep listening of "VIII" to the roaring noise rock of "IV".
With Space Happy Håvard Volden has told a memorable, coherent story almost entirely with noise. He has brought a visceral, hands-on feeling to electronic sounds that is hard to find in the digital era. If only every album of free improvisation could be created with such drive to use the listener's time effectively and provide variety.