Product Description Nearly a year and a half in the making, Opticks is a gently enchanting new record that ? while once again home-recorded - dramatically upgrades Silje Nes's sound and sees her making considerable advances on her acclaimed 2008 debut, Ames Room. Intricately constructed, warm and brimming with melodic hooks, Opticks is a record full of wonder, unfurling a series of increasingly accessible and catchy little songs. Despite - or, more likely, due to - this kitchen sink approach, Opticks is a coherent expression of Silje Nes's lovely, forward-looking vision: engaging, delicate, and transformative. Review It’s hard not to draw comparisons between Silje Nes and fellow Norwegian Hanne Hukkelberg, another classically trained musician who flirted with a variety of different musical styles before finding her own path. Both are notable for their hushed, sweet vocals, and both released debuts littered with experimental sounds: Hukkelberg’s 2004 album, Little Things, saw her recording the sounds of pots, pans and bicycles, while Nes’ Ames Room (2009) used technology to manipulate the instrumentation into intriguing shapes. Both then responded to the critical acclaim that duly followed by moving to Berlin to record their second albums.Clearly, however, they responded to the city in very different ways: Hukkelberg emerged in 2007 with Rykestraße 68, an album full of tension and darkness that was easier to admire than love, while Nes has emerged three years later with Opticks, a far more soothing collection that sounds like it was recorded late at night under threat of eviction. It sees her refine her approach, allowing her seductively reticent voice more prominence amidst the textural details that were a staple of her debut. Now, though, it’s impossible to ignore the similarities with another Scandinavian, Sweden’s reclusive Stina Nordenstam: on Silver>Blue the whispered, double-tracked vocals could almost have been lifted from the Swede’s classic And She Closed Her Eyes, while on Symmetry of Empty Space her hesitant guitar playing, over brushed cymbals and the simplest of drum rhythms requires only the introduction, in the song’s chorus, of soft percussive tapping and a twinkling xylophone to double its weight.But Nes’ fondness for atmospheric melancholy also has its roots in the softer narcotic haze of the likes of The Velvet Underground and their heirs. Opener The Grass Harp at times recalls their classic Heroin but, rather than bury it under a uncomfortable wall of sound, Nes builds up layers of static that buzz beneath the sparse instrumentation and then float away. The Card House, meanwhile, drifts into the kind of reverie for which Mazzy Star were celebrated, and The Shades – with its treated vocals and guitar effects – recalls both Cocteau Twins and late Slowdive, though with perhaps more emphasis on stargazing than shoegazing.Perhaps Nes’ weakness is that the album’s defining characteristic is its fragility, making it hard to grasp the emaciated instrumentation and melodies that lie at its heart. But subtle though it is, Tarwater’s Bernd Jestram – who mixed the album – ensures that the imaginative details sparkle, so while Nes’ world may at times sound familiar, it’s still very much her own, a comforting and alluring one into which to retreat. --Wyndham Wallace Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off in a new window
T**F
Barely Breathing but Beautiful
Silje Nes is a Norwegian singer/songwriter who makes strange littledreams come true. She has a gentle vision; so gentle in fact thatsometimes the air refuses to stir around her. 'Opticks' is her secondalbum. Her 2007 debut 'Ames Room' is another little gem which isalso more than worth a listen if you care to take a backward step.If this music had a colour it would be the palest blue-grey shotthough with occasional half-seen strands of silver. Moon music.Sky music. The melodies are elusive and haunting; the rhythmicstructures as fragile as reeds at a river's edge. There are almostcertainly fairies at the bottom of Ms Nes's garden. You can hearthem moving about in the undergrowth of the curiously magicalsoundscape which is 'Rewind'. The subtle layers of sound shift inand out of focus like a tiny cloud which comes and goes so quietlythat we are left a little uncertain as to whether there might be moreto come. It is these kind of open-ended conundrums which givethese eleven new compositions their ephemeral and captivating edge.There is a stronger pulse beating at the heart of the beautiful'Silver-Blue' but Ms Nes keeps it in check. It is there to providemomentum in the absence of thematic development. The effect ofthis formula, here and elsewhere, is both enchanting and hypnotic.Ms Nes's voice rarely rises above a whisper. Sometimes, as inthe gorgeous miniature 'Hello Luminance', it barely comes intobeing at all. The fusion of electronic with acoustic elements isunobtrusively managed and adds another level of otherworldlycharm and mystery to the proceedings.Final track 'Ruby Red' is a folksong from Mars. A plaintive violinline and distant drum augments a vocal performance of suchextraordinarily stripped-down beauty that I almost didn't noticewhen the album had ended! Mesmerising stuff indeed!Silje Nes is to be applauded (very quietly please!) for this single-mindedcontribution to that part of the musical spectrum which teeters on theedge of nothingness. Half-in and half-out of the world but definitelymore than deserving of our time, attention and affection.Highly Recommended.
M**M
Optickal Allusion
The dream continues... Silje Nes is an exceptionally original artist! Her birth is experienced on her 1st release, Ames Room, as she embryonically incorporates everything at her disposal, surrounding herself, into a masterwork in which she finds her voice, both musically & vocally. The artist at the moment of creation! It is a watershed moment in recording - the missing link between artist & listener.I am an independent record store owner, who, upon "hearing" Ames Room, declared National Record Store Day to be Silje Nes Day! Now, about Opticks...! It is a dream! Silje Nes has grown, blossomed into an artist of such talent that it is hard to imagine what she will do beyond this! But, this, is incredible! I had the good fortune to meet her & see her perform & she is beautiful & modest & unassuming & genuine & recreates her sound to perfection & beyond. Take note - she is the real deal! Long Live Sile Nes! Of course, it is an acquired taste & not for everyone - but if you like it - you will love it!
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