Johann Johannson - 'Englaborn' (4AD) Released 12/11/07

Feted as one of the best selling releases of the Touch label, Jóhann Jóhannson's 'Englabörn' was originally released in 2002, and manages to find the place where mystery, the elemental and the exquisite have equal expression, with emotive signatures drenched by the melancholic well-spring oxymoron. Building upon the acclaim of his 'IBM 1401 - A Users Manual' which saw the composer scuttle through the family attic and score a homage to his father's work with the prototype ole-time IBM computer, 'Englabörn' comes from the canon of neo-classical composers such as Max Richter, Ryan Teague and the looped scores of Philip Glass. 'Englabörn' was conceived as a score to a play of the same name to which Jóhann set about revising and restructuring the work for a stand alone release. With strings from the Eþos String Quartet and minimal piano, glockenspiel, percussion and organ, 'Englabörn' was subject to atmospheric touches to lighten what is otherwise an entirely acoustic work.

On 'IBM...', the stand-out track 'The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black' borrowed verse from Dorothy Parker, this time Jóhann treats himself to the Latin writer Catullus's famous poem the self-same 'Odi et Amo' [...We'll confound the reckoning quite, And lose ourselves in wild delight: While our joys so multiply, As shall mock the envious eye.] - the stirring autumnal operatic finds the string-led piece transfigured by a processed vocal, twisting between sadness and delight in its beauty. The tremulous bars of the opener resonant throughout with an ardent string quartet on the reflective title track 'Englabörn', the broody, fathom-deep cello piece of 'Sálfræthingur Deyr', and the minimalist glockenspiel and piano arrangement of 'Bað', whilst 'Krókódíll' seems to stir death in the face with a ruminative piano and organ.

'Englabörn' manages to hover over the latter end of the calender months by painting seasonal landscapes such as the spartan and wintry 'Jól & Karen' as if frozen in a stillness by the tinkle of ivories, whilst 'Eg Sleppi þÉr Aldrei' evokes a haunting nocturnal forest concealing a magi-cove of delights in the pizzicato strings and glockenspiel, and 'Eg Átti Gráa Æsku' contains a geo-active rumble with the glockenspiel dropping tinklets of snow-flakes. Animated moments feature with 'Sálfræthingur' lifting the cadence with a percussive arrangement to the strings' refrain, whilst the traditional classical arrangement of 'Eg Heyrði Allt Án þEss Að Hlusta' stirs in its' lamentations, and 'Englabörn - Tilbrigthi' cuts like a Bronsky Quartet / Jacques Tati jovial. Closing with a completely processed vocal from the opener 'Odi et Amo', 'Odi et Amo - Bis' harmonises like a whale cry, the essence of the arrangement kept in check whilst skirting atonal
sonics.

On one count, 'Englabörn' serves as proof that there's more to Iceland than Sigur Ros, Reyka vodka, Bjork, old geysers and trolls. 'Englabörn' evokes the Icelandic terrain by scoring a sound-scape of stirring wintry clarity, a neo-classical endeavour whose beauty exists outside the violent and disturbing play for which it was conceived.