Bouvetøya
Cinematic Berlin School Electronic Music
Discography
NEU!
NEW!
aquarius
bouvetøya music
released APRIL 2020
Submissions, commissions, and live recordings 2015-2019
A selection of studio and live tracks and live recordings, which have never previously been available; soundtrack commissions, compilation submissions, podcasts and EM events.
Download includes live set from Awakenings as a bonus track
Also included in download is an 8 page pdf booklet with personal track notes, live photos and other momentoes.
GEOMETRIUM
SynGate Wave Records
released OCTOBER 2019
Bouvetøya's eighth studio album with SynGate Records delves into the mysteries of the universe and its inextricable link with musical structures and harmonies, as studied by the Greek philosophers and mathematicians.
Ambient soundscapes dominate this concept album, although the Berlin School influences are always prevalent in this sonic journey through the musical universe.
From the opening track MUSICA UNIVERSALIS to the final opus INTERPLANETARY POLYPHONY, GEOMETRIUM delivers an aural sonic exploration interpreting the harmony of the spheres .
MOONQUAKE
SynGate Wave Records
released OCTOBER 2018
A moon themed album was always on the cards, but far from straying into the traditional format that such music takes (including the obligatory NASA samples) Bouvetøya's approach was - in his own words - a theme from an imaginary space-western.
Layers of polyphonic pads and arpeggios dominate the opening track CRATERS OF ETERNAL DARKNESS building the platform punctuated by climactic crashes of portamento glides and synth brass.
It is this cinematic depth of sound which sets the tempo of the rest of the album, melodic and expansive, MOONQUAKE is the seventh studio album from Bouvetøya released by SynGate Records.
Bouvetøya’s more traditional influences return once more on this release, with an emphasis on the sequencer driven Berlin School style of EM.
MACHINES FOR COLLECTIVE LIVING
SynGate Wave Records
released SEPTEMBER 2017
The theme of MACHINES FOR COLLECTIVE LIVING is that technology has transcended that which was designed to help humans and is now the surveyor of everything we do; we allow ourselves to be monitored 24/7. What was once a covenience for communication is now our master as we become consumed in a never ending cycle of trivia and monotony; there is nothing social about social media. "This world maybe another planet's hell" - Aldous Huxley
Machines is the sixth studio album from Bouvetøya released by SynGate Records.
Bouvetøya’s more traditional influences return once more on this release, with an emphasis on the sequencer driven Berlin School style of EM.
SUPER HIGH FREQUENCY
SynGate Wave Records
released JULY 2016
The theme of SUPER HIGH FREQUENCY is communication; where our lives are consumed with communicating with others through technology, at the expense of learning to communicate with ourselves and those around us as we sit in silence coveting our screens. The cover represents the electrical energy which provides the power for our everyday day lives; this tries to eclipse the solar energy that energises us as humans. However, there will only be one winner.
SUPER HIGH FREQUENCY is a collection of compositions across the EM genre, and the fifth studio album from Bouvetøya released by SynGate Records.
Bouvetøya’s more contemporary influences rise to the surface once more on this release, with an eclectic mix of genre that Bouvetøya is delighted to be Syngate Wave’s second release.
BLUE PLANET TALISMAN
SynGate Wave Records
released January 2016
Blue Planet Talisman is a concept which was inspired by the artwork of graphic artist Martin Millar, whose work adorns Bouvetøya’s new realease on SynGate Wave.
Each track on the album represents an improvised studio live performance with minimal overdubs; the objective being that each track captures the moment of an immediate live performance rather than a structured studio track. Using that basis the whole project was completed relatively quickly, the addition of a remixed track from the artist that inspired the album completes the concept.
The artwork was omnipresent in the studio and became as much a part of each performance as the music.
Bouvetøya’s more contemporary influences rise to the surface on this release, with less reliance on the traditional analogue sequencing of previous releases and more emphasis on performing melodic and rhythmic soundscapes, it is with this eclectic mix of genre that Bouvetøya is delighted to be Syngate Wave’s first release.
TIMESLIP
SynGate Records
released September 2015
Third release on the SynGate label, TIMESLIP was recorded between January and July 2015, with final mixing and mastering completed during August.
The main concept of the album relates to Timaeus, the Plato dialogue and the creation of the universe. Once again the whole studio vibe was to use as much analogue equipment as possible to give a more live feel to the recording. Some painstaking and time consuming techniques were used, including the use of two ReVox A77s to create a "Frippertronics" type echo/repeat audio chain - check out the intro to the 2nd track on the album, CELESTIAL SPHERES to hear an example.
Awash with mellotrons and modular synthesizer sequences, TIMESLIP represents another Cinematic Berlin School experience, very much a modern soundtrack with a nod to the heritage of traditional Berlin School.
INTERSTELLARPHONIC
SynGate Records
released August 2014
Second release on the SynGate label, INTERSTELLARPHONIC was recorded between December 2013 and May 2014, with final mixing and mastering over June and July.
The main process for each track would be a live studio improvisation which would be augmented by overdubs and multi-tracking; the use of recording to DAT or 1/4 inch tape was very much part of the process and hopefully this more traditional approach can be heard in the recordings.
The concept of the album is very much based on musical influences and this is reflected in the artwork; a sort of homage to the space themes of the 1960s, Thunderbirds, Dr Who, Radiophonic Workshop, Joe Meek and even Lost in Space.
SUBTRACTIVATE
SynGate Records
released October 2013
First release on German EM label SynGate Records, SUBTRACTIVATE was a cumulation of projects which were never released and an abortive project THORIUM IV of which three of the six tracks were used.
Also included on the album is WHEN ISOLATION SPARKLES, a section of a soundtrack which was written for the book launch of Freddie Dewe Matthews' definitive history of Bouvet Island "Bouvetøya: A Cultural History of an Isolated Landmass"
SUBTRACTIVATE was the first Berlin School influenced album chracterised by driving analogue sequences and the unmistakable sound of the Mellotron.
The artwork on the front cover and inner booklet were taken on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, Ireland where many of the field recordings were produced.
Early Releases
CHASING CHEMTRAILS
electronicaca studio
released August 2011
Second album from the studio of Bouvetøya
Conceptual in its format; Chasing Chemtrails is approx 60 mins of electronic geoengineering and other global warnings.
The album cover became the Bouvetøya logo for a time, and without acknowledgement was also found being used later on a certain geoengineering awareness site's merchandise; although I like to think it was purely coincidental. As you can imagine, the internet was a great source of inspiration for what seemed like a good idea at the time.
BI/POLAR
electronicaca studio
released June 2010
Debut release from the studio of Bouvetøya
BI/POLAR is a concept album inspired by the remoteness, isolation, and extreme weather hostility of both polar regions. Two tracks, SEASHORE and FLEMISH CAP were originally written as demos in the late 1990s and never released. The long ambient track which closes the album has the distinction of being recorded using just an Oberheim OB12 synthesizer.
The front cover is a stock photo from Getty Images showing a ship negotiating an Antarctic ice flow.