DROWNING BUT LEARNING

It has been a pleasure re-acquainting myself with this debut album of Lars Pedersen over the past several days. Lars is tthe man behind this project called WHEN. Lars is from Norway, and is a talented multi-instrumentalist who also excels in the studio. I get a headache just thinking of all the time and effort that would have went into this 52 minute recording. He is a master at using cutup sound collages and field recordings. This really is something to hear. And released in 1987, a bleak year for our music.

Lars tends to focus on the dark side of music, that black humour comes out with those disturbing lyrics, although there aren't a lot of them, I think four tracks. I like the way this record starts with thunder and rain before suddenly turning dark with samples. "War Fields" is all over the place as we get chaotic and noisy sections, along with atmosphere and samples. Some vocals too. "Those Grey Cats Invisible" is experimental and there's crowd noise late. "Karius & Baktus" is something! Hearing Elmo laughing crazily at times is creepy, and I really like the samples he used after 2 minutes.

"New Water" has this rare heavy rhythmic sound, but then it turns experimental after 1 1/2 minutes with crickets, spoken words and other samples. "World In Strike" is an odd one, and the title track features someone whimpering as the door slowly opens. Yikes! Lots of atmosphere late as someone speaks. Some urgent UNIVERS ZERO-like piano on "Veil And Mere" along with guitar, vocals, drums and more. "Beginning" opens with vocals and organ before it turns heavy without vocals to the end.

I'm a huge fan of WHEN's first three studio albums. This one from 1987, "Death In A Blue Lake" from 1988, and "Black, White & Grey" from 1991. I have a couple of his later recordings but felt they weren't on the level of these three albums. Easily 4 stars but not for everyone.