Soundtrack of my life

This is the debut album by a duo comprising of Slovak guitarist / composer David Kollar and Norwegian trumpeter / composer Arve Henriksen. It was recorded "virtually" over the Net, by exchanging files between the two musicians, and presents twelve original pieces co-composed by them. 

The music is quite difficult to categorize, as it flows freely between styles and genres. Since it also lacks a clear melodic content, it is ambient in nature and presents more moods and emotions rather than what most listeners consider as music in the straightforward sense of the idiom. 

Henriksen´s trumpet playing is the epitome of Nordic music, with lyrical and melancholic themes, while Kollar´s guitar, with extensive usage of electronics, is mostly incidental, ambient and cinematic in nature. However, when combined together, these two directions amalgamate splendidly, creating surprisingly evocative statements. Although music of such nature can be quite tedious and lethargic, this album manages to avoid that trap with elegance and a continuous listening, although requiring some effort, is eventually rewarding and even inviting. It is a good example of ambient music, which one can listen to more than once, revealing new layers of musical depth with each listening session. 

Kollar and Henriksen are both established musical phenomena and this album confirms their individual talents and cooperative skills, but does not offer any surprising new vistas, being more or less something the followers of these two musicians would expect to hear on the album. Nevertheless it is an elegant, highly aesthetic piece of sound-weaving, which has its faithful followers.

 

Adam Baruch - LINK