biosphere substrata

“Waves of serene, timeless joy” — that’s Burroughs describing the Western Lands but it perfectly evokes the mood of Biosphere’s Substrata.

The track I’ve included is one of my favourites but the whole album is of a piece: the tracks flow from one to another while the cavernous reverb and delay on the bass drones provide a consistency of mood. Substrata is often described as “arctic” or “isolationist” ambient but there’s a sense of intimacy and compassion here I don’t hear in deep isolationist stuff (Biosphere’s own Polar Sequences for example — he samples glaciers cracking and it doesn’t get much more arctic than that!).

I’ve uploaded Track 3, “Chukhung” to this post as a taster. I love the deep throbs that anchor the track and the jangly, distant guitar that pans across the soundfield. This particular upload is from the 2001 remaster, which is worth picking up even if you have the original release because it adds Jenssen’s soundtrack to the 1929 experimental Russian film Man With a Movie Camera. As a dedicated nerd I did in fact sync up both this and the Cinematic Orchestra version to the film, which honestly is more of an historical curiosity than essential viewing, but Biosphere’s is the superior accompaniment and stands on its own as an extension and evolution of the sounds on Substrata.

Turn the lights down, turn the speakers or headphones up and enjoy.