Terje Paulsen – Three Strings – 3s Second

Norwegian Paulsen set himself out to restore some dignity to a pair of ancient instruments lying around the house, whose strings were about 30 years old. He applied contact microphones and a minimum of effects to the aged boxes, utilizing fingers, bows and eBow plus minor preparations such as wooden sticks to elicit nicely resonant harmonics, a few gentle noises and even drones of the breathtaking variety, like it happens in the second movement. It's an unpretentious, beautiful recording in its nudity, way better than the music released by the same artist on Mystery Sea's Horisont. Three Strings is subdued, articulate or nebulous depending on what’s necessary at a particular moment - and definitely more genuine. Propagations of life from objects destined to an undeserved euthanasia, evacuation of worthless appendages in favour of a welcome substance. This somewhat enigmatic management of instrumental decrepitness warrants several moments of serious absorption bathed in mucillaginous stupor. Very good stuff. (Et Le Feu Comme)