MILJARD

This two disc set was released by CIRCLE in 2006 and is quite a change from the previous albums where they had become increasingly heavy. This in fact is quite the oposite. Very ambient and low key with lots of sparse piano melodies along with effects, percussion, bass and guitar. This is all so laid back and considering there is 2 hours of music here it's a long listen.

I must admit things do not start off very well for me as the first three tracks are my least favourites, so we're talking 50 minutes of music right there. If I was to rate the rest of this recording minus these three tracks it would be an easy four stars for me.Things improve with the fourth song called "Manni" which is still minimalistic but for some reason I like it a lot better. "Salenius" has piano and bass standing out early. Effects and more join in and it's building after 4 minutes. Good track.

"Sophie" starts off disc two with beautiful but sparse sounds including piano. It settles even more after 9 minutes as the main piano stops. It does get fuller again though. "Muhle" has lots of atmosphere with a spacey pulsating soundscape with sparse piano. Great sound here. "Cornelia" is again sparse piano and atmosphere. "Bakkis" has this atmosphere that shakes the soundscape then it settles back late. "Viitane" has a motorik feel to it then it settles back tempo-wise around 9 minutes.

So lots to like here but once again I wish they had stuck with a single album instead of a double.