Music from the Igloo (CD Review)

Terje Isungset: Igloo
(All Ice Records)

Musically speaking, this is a little out of my normal tastes, as it tends toward experimental (or otherwise irregular) rhythms and melodies. But it's certainly notable for the way the music was created. If you want to do this yourself, here's the plan:

1. Wait for winter;
2. When the local river freezees over, cut out hunks of ice;
3. Carve the ice into instruments (ice percussion, iceofon, icehorn, iceharp);
4. Set up cold-hardy microphones;
5. Play and sing.

Yep, nothing on this one but ice and human voices. The iceofon (a balofon/xylophone) has astoundingly clear, melodic notes. The All Ice site has a video of this frozen music for your enjoyment. Only my preference for more predictably melodic music keeps me from giving this my heartiest recommendation, but it's definitely recommended if you like the idea of listening to Bjork sing from the inside of a walk-in freezer.

Don't really know what prompted me to write about ice at the start of summer. In contrast, I'll be spinning songs of warmth and sunshine on the radio today. You can catch the live webstream from 10am-noon Pacific time. (See how nicely it falls between today's World Cup matches?) Go Togo!