Frederick Foxtrott

Silje nes
Ames Room
March 11th 2008
FatCat Records

Ames Room is not a complicated record, but it contains an elemental beauty and depth that is rarely ever captured by the deliberate and dogmatic procedures that often accompany music writing and production. Silje nes has assembled a broad spectrum of sounds with the sole purpose of creating soft and tender textures that evoke an ethereal space in which all who hear can exist for the short moments that each song lasts. The songs were meant to be listened to in your living room, in the Spring with the windows wide open and the Sun illuminating every particle in the room. With Silje nes, even the dust that floats in the Spring Sun becomes hovering orbs that accentuate the sprightly, feminine music.

Though released in America on March 11th 2008, Silje recorded Ames Room between the Autumn of 2004 and the Summer of 2007. She took the time to compile songs that reflected different moments during the evolution of her music. Before 2004 she sent tracks to FatCat to demo her work. The label began to recognize the possibilities and worked with her to compile Ames Room. The record is layered with guitars, synthesizers, drum machines, as well as the rich and organic tones of the cello and drum kit. The light percussive aspect of Ames Room gives the entire record a music box quality complete with tinks, bells, clicks, and chimes.

This Norwegian voice and textural style has a pure naturalistic sound that would fit nicely into a multi-disc CD player with Múm, Sigur Rós, and The Album Leaf’s In a Safe Place. While Múm and Silje nes are both signed to FatCat, I do not think that this is because of Múm’s long coat tails, rather because FatCat, XL, and others are beginning to delineate a mode of music production that is separate from the doldrums of that vast chasm that is the “post rock” genre. It just seems to be happening in Iceland and the Nordic North. I am sure that a catchy name will soon be circulated to describe the sound’s style and emphasis on the purity and innocence that music can achieve. Silje nes’ Ames Room is imperfect and has much room to improve, but we can only hope that more music comes our way from this grand artist.

6/9

-FF

http://www.myspace.com/siljenes

Other Music
Yellow EP- 2008