snobb
Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen is possibly best known as a member of Supersilent or collaborator with David Sylvian, but he also regularly releases solo albums as well. "Cartography" is his fourth solo album and ECM debut.
Arve's main musical influences are obviously Jon Hassell and Nils Petter Molvaer. Being a fan of Japanese minimalist reeds music, Henriksen combines aerial and very earthly (ecological?) atmospheres with lots of ascetic electronic loops, effects and sounds providing a dark ambient mix on the border between intellectual new age and world fusion.
This album was recorded in three years, consequently none of the songs contain the same line up. Looking on the list one can find a lot of leading Nordic artists (such as bassist Lars Danielsson, guitarist Eivind Aarset, drummer Audun Kleive, electronic gurus Jan Bang and Erik Honoré) who collaborated on this recording. The other known name is David Sylvian.
The music itself is a question of taste. With all my love for Molvaer's early music, I can hardly stand more modern versions of it without dynamics and as a rule, no rhythms. Arve's trumpet sound is very "Zen" and the ambient electronic background doesn't help much. This is still better than your casual new age recording, but this music obviously lacks flesh and blood.
Verdict: new age for intellectuals (if they listen to new age).