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Marcus Fjellström - Schattenspieler [Miasmah - 2010]

Marcus Fjellström is a young Swedish composer now based in Berlin and Schattenspieler marks his third album to date, but also his first that was wholly conceived after graduating from his studies in composition and orchestration in 2005.

His last release, 2006’s Gebrauchsmusik, explored the idea of music composed for specific uses (such as dance, war and death) with a series of vignettes splicing complex avant garde composition with queasy electro-acoustics and, occasionally, electronic rhythm reminiscent of Drukqs-era Aphex Twin to confound our notions of genre and function. In contrast, Schattenspieler’s palette, although retaining a full-bodied orchestral meets concrète blend, seems more restricted, tightly bound around its chosen cinematic concept of German expressionism and noir.

Central to most of the album is the string section: brooding tremelodic violins immediately convey a foreboding or tension thanks to their prevalence on famous film soundtracks (perhaps the only place where atonal chords are widely accepted and digested). But, here they are deployed like a patchwork of snatched (or maybe even sampled) motifs, often tantalisingly familiar yet never quite recognisable as they deal out their dark portentous directions albeit fragmented and divorced from much in the way of dénouement.

Six out of the eleven pieces (the first four and the final two) are joined by the heavy and heaving presence of vinyl surface noise, often layered on so thick as to characterise thunder or rainfall. It’s not surprising to learn afterward that Fjellström had previously published an academic article on the use of vinyl and record players as musical instruments. And here the constant sound of the travelling carriage punctuated by crackles and pops often acts as a kind of binding agent between the cinematic mosaics.

But it is on the four part suite found in the middle of the album when his music appears to avoid the glue of vinyl noise where Schattenspieler is at its most affecting. These pieces are based on an actual soundtrack Fjellström devised for a film installation by Bernd Behr in 2006, one of many commissions he has received to collaborate with visual artists. Titled House without a Door, the work also utilised aspects of German Expressionist cinema citing Murnau’s Faust and Lang’s Dr Mabuse as key references in its exploration of a WWII military test site where bombing sealed off one of the dwellings. The music is certainly no lighter, often feeling like a journey jeopardised by extreme weather full of stormy strings and desperate stabs.

Earlier, on tracks like Bis Einer Weint and Antichrist Architect Management, Fjellström’s rich, dark orchestrations are infected by pulsing synth refrains that can seem incongruous with the kaleidoscope of strings, vinyl noise and percussion. Whereas the final two pieces really gel in their clever combinations: Tenebrous is built around an ominously tolling bell as creepy strings emerge tentatively building into a dark feast of cinematic cues, while Uncanny Valleys provides a kind of post-traumatic finale whose wistful mood (at times not unlike Boards of Canada without the smooth beats) suggests rising titles after a not entirely happy ending.

Schattenspieler is German for shadow player, and although often delectable in its darkness, the constant moodiness can get a little oppressive at times or a bit like watching a film with a low contrast setting rendering some scenes too black to discern the action. But it still deftly demonstrates Fjellström’s art in combining modern classical composition with more populist elements to retain the strong, darkly dramatic effects of stylish cinema.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Russell Cuzner
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