Johann Johannsson: IBM 1401 - A User's Manual

Label: 4AD

Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson has worked with some of the more adventurous rock and electronic musicians, including Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic, and members of fellow countrymen Sigur Ros. Now he’s achieved a rare feat for “classical” composers: having an album released on a rock label, and a famed one at that, 4AD. Furthermore, he has done this with a most unusual piece of music: a five-section work inspired by the user’s manual for an old IBM mainframe computer. The first movement is purely instrumental (with some mildly electronic touches), displaying Johannsson’s quietly dignified, highly melodic style, texturally similar to minimalism but its development moving forward more quickly. One of the “instruments” is the computer itself, its sounds sampled. The arc of the music here (and in general) starts quietly, slowly crescendos to an ecstatic peak, then diminishing quickly at the end. In the second movement, instructions from the manual are read aloud in a businesslike voice, and the dichotomy between the voice and the orchestra is unexpectedly emotionally moving. Subsequent movements revert to the manner of the first, always moving slowly but regally, spiced by the sampled sounds. Actually, it’s a match perfect for the prototypical 4AD sound. (Steve)