Entry 1417 - Bersarin Quartett - II

Style: Dark ambient, modern classical

Primary Emotions/Themes: Darkness comes in many shades, some are grey... others are more insidious in their tones and nature

Thoughts: I have been looking for a decently priced copy of this album for years. I found this project randomly on Spotify well over a decade ago and I have been borderline obsessed with his music ever since. There are very few projects/bands that sound like this... very few indeed.

I was initially attracted to the music because of it's surface level similarity to Ulver's Svidd Neger - an album that remains one of my favorites in Ulver's discography and in the dark ambient genre as a whole. The music paints bleak and dismal images with the use of both electronics and modern orchestral arrangements. That doesn't even begin to describe the impact that the music has on me though.

II is more than just a collection of notes or soundscapes. It's more than an orchestra playing minimalist arrangements. It's more than the silence, it's more than the climactic swells... it's far more than the sum of all it's parts. 

The music that's contained in II is potent. It stays with me when I listen to it, it reverberates in my brain after I'm done listening to it. The album r e q u i r e s my attention when I listen, it grabs me by the ears and does. not. let. go. until it is finished playing. Even then it compels me to queue the record right back up so I can listen again.

There is so much depth here. Even with a full orchestra at his disposal, everything is only used when absolutely needed. The subtle use of strings and even horns is what lays the basis for these multi textured soundscapes. They contain long notes that evolve into either subtle melodies or overt ones as time passes. Sometimes these melodies swell into massive moments, but most of the time the album is content to stay in its subtle sway. 

Again though, these individual elements are only half the story. The way that the music is contracted brings out emotions that I rarely feel in music. A subtle darkness, an insidious creeping evil that works its way in with the music. When listening to II or really any other album by Bersarin Quartett I find myself contemplating the darker aspects of life, and it's all from his ability to channel these emotions and themes that so few can.

I spent years looking for this album on vinyl. It was one of the few albums that I KNEW was missing from my collection. It finally got a repress and I ordered it immediately. Then I waited... and waited... and waited. It was initially supposed to ship in February of the year I bought it, and I didn't have it in my hands until nearly Christmas. It's a long time to wait, but looking back I would do that all over again because of the quality of the music that is in these grooves.