Bersarin Quartett – II

April 20, 2012 • Denovali Records

I vaguely recalled enjoying Bersarin Quartett's self-titled debut back in 2008—a nice little album of ambient / electronic music with a classical flair to it. I enjoyed it, but I haven't gone back to it much at all. But now that their second album is out, I just might do that to see if it's grown on me—because II is a pretty amazing album.

Stylistically it's not too different from what I remember the first one sounding like: lush string arrangements, dreamy synth melodies, some deep and occasionally jazzy bass, culminating in some damn gorgeous music with incredible composition. It's mostly soft droning ambient, but with occasional subtle drumming, melodies that flicker in and out, dramatic glitches and noises, etc. It's a great aesthetic, and is very intricate as well; there is often quite a lot going on at once but everything melds together in a way that makes it seem simpler.

To the layman it may come off as run-of-the-mill film sountrack sort of music, which might be understandable due to the arrangements, but it's definitely more cerebral than that. (I hate to use that word, but it's tough to describe the atmosphere of II in general.) It does remind me a bit of Ulver's own soundtrack Svidd neger or a very dreamy Machinarium (could just be the clarinet though), both of which I also really like. It sounds a lot like something I can't quite put my finger on—or is that the point: vague familiarity and nostalgia? or am I making that up? Regardless, it clicks with me, no question.

Of course, I must warn (as usual, it seems) that yes, it is possible for good music to go on too long. At nearly seventy minutes, and with a few less-interesting and nearly-cheesy tracks (e.g. "Perlen, Honig oder Untergang" or "Keine Angst", although the latter is cheesy in a good way) in the typical middle-of-the-album slump, II can't hold my attention forever, though it certainly tries. In fact, compared to most ambient music I've heard, this album is quite engaging and works equally well with focused listening as it does as background music (I'd recommend a mix of the two).

II isn't perfect but it's definitely one of the best albums I've heard from this year so far (not that I've heard many, but still). I can see this album having a far-reaching appeal and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

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