Sven Rånlund – Oiseaux Électroniques En Suède LP

The mysterious habits of birds, especially electronic ones, is the theme for ”Oiseaux électroniques en Suède”, Sven Rånlund’s third release on GEIGER Grammofon. Birds of all sorts come alive in the language of control voltage through his modular synths.

On ”Oiseaux électroniques en Suède”, Sven Rånlund has documented birds from a tiny corner at the West Coast of Sweden, Svensängen. Born and raised in an exclusively modular family – the offsprings of a dynamic Eurorack system and a fixed Buchla Music Easel – these birds have been painstakingly recorded both separately and collectively. Most of them have first explored their songs, chirps and calls in an outdoor environment near the ocean in the company, and sometimes bewilderment, of their feathered cousins.

During the process, the birds have been given names, designations and characters. For instance, we can hear grand soloists like the Korntrast (Cornthrush), Fyrkantsskata (Squarewave Magpie), Lödsångare (Soldering Singer), Sinusskogssnäppa (Sine Sandpiper), Glitchuv (Glitch Owl) and Aylerfink (Aylerfinch). The last one can be easily identifed by its crazy swarms of hi-pitched melodies.

Stories are told throughout the album. In 13 chapters, these electronic creatures expose their daily routines and inner lifes, for instance: a migrating bird reflects on homesickness; a long-legged wader on solitude; a scruffy sea bird on fear of drowning. Sounds and harmonics also come from their interaction with friends and foes in the landscape in which they live. This surrounding material, full of colour and perfume, has been integrated in the compositions.

Music on birds, like ”Oiseaux électroniques en Suède” dare to be, have a long history. Just think of all the classic composers and their swans, ducks and cuckoos. No one more birdloving than Olivier Messiaen; his ”Catalogue d’oiseaux” was a meticulous transformation of melodic outlines of birdsong into notated music. Öyvind Fahlström, the Swedish text-sound composer, came up with a new language, fåglo, that became sound materia for his radio play ”Fåglar i Sverige” (”Birds in Sweden”).

For a 21:th century bird and noise lover as Sven Rånlund, these forerunners in the field of music on birds have paved the way for new sound discoveries and other ways of listening. The birds have landed, ready to electrify curious ears all around.