PER SVENSSON – SELECTED REVIEWS
Per Svensson
Born 1965 in Göteborg, Sweden
Works with sound, visual art, film and architecture
Selected texts - Audio articles / reviews;
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*Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, Adventures in Modern Music, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
EL / ELEMENT 1
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS
"Svensson's solo release for the label is equally involving and somewhat more dramatic. In what he describes as 'a document of electroacoustic music, an action and a shaman ride', he utilises electrical and primordial sounds to build a towering inferno of low rumbling industrialized sound structures."
284 October 2007
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*Tom Ridge, The Wire, Adventures in Modern Music, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
Sonogram
OLOF BRIGHT CD
"Recording as The New Alchemy Sweden´s Per Svensson has combined retro rock with experimental noise and field recordings. This archival collection stresses the experimental over the retro, with, most notably, his application of a metal grinder to guitar on the live drone piece, "Energy Loop Super Conductor". This is the sound of rock being broken down into a shrieking mass of pure noise, its effect slightly marred by the muddiness of the recording. For the most part the remainder is similary uncompromising but rather fragmentary, as such anthologies are often prone to be. Most of it the music was originally released as a limited edition entitled The New Alchemy II, and must have been a shock to anyone expecting a sequel to his more conventional psychedelic material."
281 July 2007
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*Johannes Cornell, Dagens Nyheter, Album Review
3 x lust for experiment
PER SVENSSON
Sonogram
CD, (olofbright/www.olofbright.com)
"Punk Sound artist Svensson´s guitar and industrial noise is like the abstract essence of rock"
30 May, 2007
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*(FdW), Vital Weekly, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
EL / ELEMENT 1
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS
"...Which Per Svensson proofs in his 'El/Element 1' , two pieces from 1987, which were released in 1989 as a cassette on Firework Records, but now, luckily enough find their way to a CD. This too is quite noise related, even when Svensson refers to this as 'electroacoustic music, an action and a shaman ride' in 'El', with bangs on metal percussion in a large space. A bit like work from Sons of God, Phauss and Hafler Trio from the same area. In 'Element', the stronger piece of the two, he works with primordial elements: earth, air, water and metal, and things are loud for sure, but the various elements work to eachother like an iron welding factory in the dark, mechanical manner, like a self-contained machine beast coming alive. The Svensson CD is no doubt the best of this new trio."
#584 July 2007
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*Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, Exhibition Review
Sight, Sound - Action.
At LACE, the ear, the eye have their own wavelengths… Occasionally overt musical imagery appears. Per Svensson´s “Element II” consists of white sheets in an accordion fold, and one of them is a pencil drawing of a shape reminiscent of a CD.”
L A Times 20 March 1997
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*(ap), Artefakt # 6, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
ENERGY LOOP / ELEMENT II
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS (FER 1008)
"...Weitaus elaborierter kommt das Werk von Per Svensson daher. Vielstimmige, komplexe Arranements zwischen Flowsounds, unidentifierbaren klangsprachlichen Neologismen und Field recordings. Eine Welt..."
Artefakt #6, 1999
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*R. Dittman, Bad Alchemy, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
Energy Loop / Element II
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS
" Der schwedische Installationskünstler und Land Artist PER SVENSSON veranstaltete zwischen 1987 und '98 in Stockholm, Göteborg, Berlin, Kairo, oder New York provokante Körperaktionen und bruitistischen Schamanzauber gegen atomare Verseuchung. Energy Loop / Element II (Firework Edition Records FER 1008) bringt von diesen aktionen meist kurze Ausschnitte, nur der 'Energy Loop', bei dem Svensson mit Elektrizität und Blitzen jonglierte, macht mit seinen 21 Minuten die grosse Ausname. Um sich ordentlich Gehör zu verschaffen, aber auch um seiner geräuschverliebten Experimeniersucht zu frönen, setzte Svensson folgende Instrumente ein: electric grinder, theremin, sitar, electric welder, electric drill, steel tubes, bronze bells, hammer and anvil, headphones, TV-monior, EKG, typewriter, spray tubes, remote control unit, computer, CD-rom digital image, radio reciever, lightning conductors. Er operiert mit der Atmo- und der Biosphäre. mit Magnetismus, mit den eigenen Körpergeräuschen. Besonderes fasziniren ihn geometrische Munster von atomaren Partikeln, die durch Schallfrequenzen ausgelöst verden.
Von den audiovisuellen Aspekten von Svenssons Kunst kann ein grosser Tonträgen naturlich nur eine gewisse Ahnung vermitteln. Der rein akustische Eindruck ist jedoch der einer spannenden und disziplinierten Arbeitsmethode. Beim achten Stück erheben wir uns alle von den Sitzen für die Hymne des Königreiches Elgaland- Vargaland."
BAD ALCHEMY # 34, 1999
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*PM Jönsson, Göteborgs-Posten, Album Review
PER SVENSSON
The New Alchemy - Sound, Art & Random Noise Poetry
CD, Kolsyrefabriken Records
“...Here are sound works recorded on Iceland in 1984...The New Alchemy is a hybrid of music, spoken word and soundart. The songs are industrial blues with echoes from The Velvet Underground and The Stooges...A fascinating journey” (4 out of 5)
GP 20 Dec 2003
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*Johan Jacobsson, Sonic Magazine, Album Review
AUDIO LABORATORY
From Silur to Devon, Carbon & Trias
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS
“We are talking about a (force of nature) recording, about sounds that makes a hangar feel small, drone and glitch that creates convulsions and makes you want to scream rock’n’roll...Audio Laboratory makes music that makes me feel, want to move and drink beer at the same time” (8 out of 10)
Sonic # 12 Summer 2003
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*Ken Hollings, The Wire – Adventures in Modern Music, Album Review
AUDIO LABORATORY
From Silur to Devon, Carbon & Trias
CD, FIREWORK EDITION RECORDS
“A balefully extended spell of darkness settles over the land of the midnight sun...Audio Laboratory creates wicked Alchemy”
WIRE 231 May 2003
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*Johan Jacobsson, Sonic Magazine, Audio Chronicle,
“Total Madness - (On Ilsa Gold) + Johan Jacobsson should also want to recommend the following CD-records: Per Svensson;>>The New Alchemy: Sound, Art & Random Noise Poetry<< (Kolsyrefabriken Records) and Henrik Rylander; >>Formation<< (Firework Edition Records)”
Sonic Chronicle 3 Nov 2003
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*Lennart Nilsson & Mats Gustafsson, Perspectives 2004 Catalogue – Festival for Creative Music
"Audio Laboratory started as a sound-art project 1997 in Gothenburg by Henrik Rylander & Per Svensson that soon connected with Ebbot Lundberg and Jean Louis Huhta. Together these musicians has created open revolutionary sound-scapes that put the audience in the condition of…state of mind… Without hesitation they have established new land within the contemporary experimental music with their noise and alarming music that is sharpened with a rock attitude. The members of the group have all roots in the Swedish rock underground. This background is a fundament for Audio Laboratory, but the music show different expressions: open flowing of clang and concrete sounds mixed in ecstatic co-clang with machine-tools and electronic devices.
A strongly visual stage performance with spectacular moments gives power to the audio laborative flow into a total event that isn’t like anything else at Perspectives 2004."
Perspectives 2004 21st-24th Oct 2004
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*Sven Rånlund, Göteborgs Posten, Kultur, Concert Review
The energy of Now in the free music…
"Freedom has many colours. Per Svensson in the Gothenburg based group Audio Laboratory played metal grinder that sent sparks over the audience. Sven Rånlund listen to Perspectives 2004 Festival in Västrås and hear white streams and earth-yellow sound compositions with World class musicians. The music is surreal, not so little perverse, even quite beautiful, even light."
GP 26th Oct 2004
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*R. Dittman, Bad Alchemy, Album Review
THE NEW ALCHEMY / Works by Per Svensson
Sound, Art & Random Noise Poetry
CD, Kolsyrefabriken Records
“Love and Silence…Freedom of Speech / Poetry can’t be stopped / it´s an orange warning / on a frozen morning”, Die Musik steigert sich von Songwrighterpoesi zum psychedelischen multi-track-freakrock mit gitarre, sitar, orgel, bass, schlagzeug. Danem schlagen bei, Iceland Document-Primordial Sounds das brausen ans Ohr…Svensson seit sich mit seiner „Tellurian Alchemy im spannungsfeld von „Dark Matter“ als nachfolger derjenigen, die versuchten, den Code der Materie und des Kosmos zu knacken; The New Alchemy”
Issue Bad Alchemy # 45 p. 21, 2005
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*Johan Jacobsson, Sonic Magazine # 22, Sound Art Special, Interview + Track on Compilation
…”Per Svensson has released three full-length albums and two 7-inch vinyl, all with the same basic concept; forces of nature, different genre and life experiences is mixed in to a fascinating and unique sound art that should be enjoyed at very loud volume”…
Sonic Issue 22. Spring 2005
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*Magnus Säll, DN (Dagens Nyheter), Album Review
PER SVENSSON
The New Alchemy II
CD, Kolsyrefabriken Records
"Merzbow, the noise artist, once reflected on the idea of recordings of the sound of Jimi Hendrix and The Who as they destroyed their guitars. The idea has now been realised by Per Svensson on The New Alchemy II with the subtitle `Concerts for metal grinders & amplified guitar´. Svensson, the sound artist, is also a member of the tumultuous Audio Laboratory and was once part of the Gothenburg underground scene and recorded with Radium. On two, extensive tracks, Svensson lets loose on plugged in electric guitars with metal cutters. They snarl, ring and howl until all that is left is a couple of crackling speakers. Mind blowing. More rock ’n’ roll than The Hives."
DN 6 April, 2005
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*P M Jönsson, GP (Göteborgs Posten) Album Review
THE NEW ALCHEMY
Organic Universe
CD, Ideal Recordings
”Slow psychedelic and primitive rock with strong suggestive power…impressive, in total, the vision, the consistence” (4 out of 5)
14 June 2006
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*Magnus Olsson, Sound Of Music, Album Review
THE NEW ALCHEMY
Organic Universe
CD, Ideal Recordings
“Organic Universe is something of a wet dream for lovers of psychedelic guitar-based rock…”
HYPERLINK http://www.soundofmusic.nu
Issue 0605, Nov. 2006
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*Tom Ridge, The Wire, Adventures in Modern Music, Album Review
THE NEW ALCHEMY
Organic Universe
CD, Ideal Recordings
"The New Alchemy is Swede Per Svensson. With a sound heavily indepted to the usual garage/psych/underground suspect but crucially, one that conveys a sense of hermetically sealed invention of self-expression…Svensson´s frenetic wah-wah and acid spiked guitar lines are liberally employed, boosting even the less focused material with some irrepressible vitality”.
WIRE Sept. 2006
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*Arien Rasmijn, VICE MAGAZINE, Interview by Andy Capper
SPIRITUAL GOLD - Astronauts write about The New Alchemy.
“After listening to The New Alchemy and some long and careful consideration, we came to the conclution that nothing could prepare you well enough for The New Alchemy…The New Alchemy is all about Swedish artists Per Svensson and Ebbot Lundberg making dark, intricate psychedelia, and it makes all those other new bands that claim to be “unsettling and fatalistic” sound like a bunch of babies…” FICTION ISSUE,
VICELAND Dec 2006 / Jan 2007
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*Anthony Balaqua, Rock-A-Rolla Magazine, Album Review
THE NEW ALCHEMY
Organic Universe
CD, Ideal Recordings
“A total of 22 tracks, or rather pieces, make up this records with field recordings, loops, bass, drums, guitars, vocals and metal grinder, just some of the tools in Svensson´s wide arsenal... this is just incidental to what are effectively some great minimal avant/psych-rock tunes that sit somewhere between The Stooges and Velvet Underground with the odd splashing of droning metal…Overall Organic Universe is an accomplished record that more than justifies its comparisons to Lou Reed’s finer moments.”
2007
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*Keith Henderson, Aural Innovations, issue 35
THE NEW ALCHEMY
Organic Universe
CD, Ideal Recordings
“The New Alchemy is the one-man project of artist/musician Per Svensson from Gothenburg, Sweden…Despite the occational similarity with darker post-rock outfits like Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Family, nobody else I’ve heard sounds quite like this album, taken overall…But as I said, the works are artistically crafted, so these dark moody ditties are oddly appealing.”
HYPERLINK "http://www.aural-innovations.com"
www.aural-innovations.com 2007
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*Thomas Millroth, Text on CD Album
PER SVENSSON
Sonogram
CD, Olofbright OBCD 18
An Art Shining With Energy
"It is all about energy, to be able to handle it, to transform sounds, sequences, clusters into energetic vibrations. No need to underline Per Svensson´s (b. 1965) past in the Gothenburg punk-scene. You can feel it in his music, sense it in every way he uses different sounds, how he explores tools combining them with electric guitar, field recordings or whatever. The musical as well as non musical sounds are transformed into sonoric spaces. When listening you move into them as if you were exploring unknown landscapes. In spite of dramatically changing details we feel strongly that we are in one and the same room. Even if you get the wuthering experience of the floor disappearing under your feet, in a poetic way you feel safe. Per Svensson´s sonoric spaces are indeed most physical. Although often harsh and rough there is underneath this surface a very sensual experience. I´d rather say vulnerable than raw in the way of industrial rock. His method is to use flux and random, improvisation – and the ears to hold it all together. In this CD Per Svensson is looking back. It is like a retrospective show. We see (hear) as far as 1987, i.e. twenty years. Going further back to the modern pioneers – 90, 50 or 30 years, whatever you prefer – we find a row of disparate lack of norms movements. The whole thing was about dismantling, crushing, and investigating the limits. Per Svensson has passed that. For him the structures of the music have been put together again, rejected, and replaced with new elements. In one way he stands steady in a tradition of noise, electronica and rock, but none of those standards are useful in the description of his art. He comfortably moves between his experiences of noise experiment, conceptual art, sound art, spoken word. He has no need to force any borders, he acts as if they do not exist, and never did. In the best sense his musical flow/flux has an agenda of its own, which gives it liberty of action within its contemporary context." Olofbright OBCD 18, 2007