Jana Irmert — End Of Absence
Her installations and compositions have been presented at international festivals and exhibitions such as the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Sound Explicit (Slovenia), the I-Park Environmental Arts Biennale (USA), the Academy of Arts Berlin and the Banff Centre (Canada). End of Absence is Jana Irmert’s debut album, bringing together six sound works that merge field recordings, experimental electronic sounds and vocal patterns into unique multilayered soundscapes.
And that’s exactly what this album is. It’s dark rumblings with field recordings and occasional voices emanating from the speakers, there’s an emptiness to these tracks that I wasn’t expecting. However I think this comes from the tracks being long drawn out pieces. I’m not suggesting they should be snort snappy pieces, but there does seem to be a degree of keeping things going for the sake of it. A perfect example is Track 3 “Obstacles” - a 12 minute foray consisting of a deep bass note, with shimmering electronics across it. It’s beautiful, but could do with being 5 minutes shorter. Even experimental recordings have to evolve, and I don’t feel this is doing that.
Each piece could be presented as an artefact on it’s own, and again this doesn’t help the album gel. There’s a sterility to it, which keeps the listener at arms length. You aren’t being allowed to immerse yourself in it, but rather you are being shown it and expected to applaud.
Don’t get me wrong, what Jana does she does well, but I just feel the recordings lack an emotional depth that should be there and would therefore help to draw the listener in more. If this were a school report, its would read “Jana has the talent and the ability, but needs to try harder”. It’s good, you just know it could be better and that’s what is disappointing.