Phonophani - Animal Imagination (2017) [Hi-Res]

'Animal Imagination' is an extraordinary achievement on many levels, by turns shockingly beautiful, densely allusive and formidably obscure. It marks the return by Espen Sommer Eide to his occasional alias Phonophani, whose self-titled debut was released (on the Biophon label) as long ago as 1998, followed by 'Genetic Engineering' for Rune Grammofon in 2001.

Phonophani seems to cultivate unsettling juxtapositions and seemingly accidental effects in order to take the listener far away from a shiny technological present or sci-fi future into some deep shamanic past or dreamworld. Listen to the track "Sunrise on Bear Island" for the full effect: an ecstatic-sounding audio environment that develops from a chill-out ambient groove into a bewildering sonic landscape where one seems to hear echoes of ancient Buddhist chanting amidst rushing wind and droplets of tropical rain. What's really there and what's not, is difficult to say.

Similarly, another near-masterpiece, "Untime Me", uses layers of electronic noise and the treated voice of Mari Kvien Brunvoll, to evoke the trance-like, timeless flow of classical Indian music in the Carnatic tradition.