Biophon Norway Vinyl & CDs

Review: After a run of reissues and a boundary-blurring fusion of classical music and electronica (January 2021's Angel's Flight), Norwegian ambient veteran Geir Jennsen AKA Biosphere has gone back to basics on Shortwave Memories. Ditching software and computers for analogue synths, drum machines and effects units, Jennsen has delivered album that he claims was inspired by the post-punk era electronics of Daniel Miller and Matin Hannett, but instead sounds like a new, less dancefloor-conscious take on the hybrid ambient/techno sound he was famous for in the early 1990s. The results are uniformly brilliant, making this one of the Norwegian trailblazer's most alluring and sonically comforting albums for decades.

Review: Over the last few years, Geir Jennsen has been quietly offering up re-mastered and often expanded reissues of many of his most sought-after albums, including many that have previously never been released on wax. He's at it again here, delivering a weighty triple-vinyl version of one of his lesser-celebrated LPs, 2006's "Dropsone", which boasts seven previously unheard tracks and alternate takes recorded during the same period. Musically, it's one of the most unique sets in Jennsen's catalogue, in part because it mixes his usual ambient textures, chords and melodies with simmering strings, warmer melodies and - most notably - some genuine jazz rhythms. Whereas many of his albums are icy and otherworldly, "Dropsone" is positively sun-kissed and summery.

Review: The release of any new Biosphere album is cause for celebration, especially when the man himself - the great Geir Jenssen - has chosen a specific theme or concept. 'Inland Delta', his first new full-length for almost two years, features (in his words) "mostly improvised performances on newly restored vintage keyboards". In practice, that means a slightly more colourful and fluid ambient sound than some of his many ambient albums, plus inherent warmth missing from his often icy compositions. There's plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the slow-moving cinematic bliss of 'Franklin's Dream' and the shuffling shimmer of 'Delta Function', to the becalmed, slowly unfurling dreaminess of 'The String Thing' and the Tangerine Dream-does-ambient loveliness of 'Florian's Flute'.