Lars Lundehave Hansen – Recursive Abstractions
I recently had the great pleasure of spending a few days with danish sound artist Lars Lundehave Hansen. It went beyond the traditional listener-musician relationship, I will disclose. Not in any dubious way though, I will clarify. Yet I not only got to experience his music in a few live settings but I also helped house, host and feed him as he embarked on a week long Canadian tour. A tour which was in fact the first proper North American tour that he has embarked on. Over countless cups of coffee, a few late (late) night conversations, and several hours shuttling along Ontario’s vast highways I got acquainted not only with his polite and quietly reserved good humour and kindness but also the sonic pallet with which he crafts his particular brand of dense brooding ambience.
Brought to life from a handful of discarded elements left over from his first foray into soundtrack work, Recursive Abstractions contains six brief but monumental slices of Lars’ slow and carefully crafted sound worlds. It became increasingly apparent to me that Lars’ approach is less of melodic tension and release and more of a master builder, slowly adding and pulling away elements of construction to carefully build the exact texture of sound that he desires. There is a complex network of refracted sounds that huddle and burst beneath the initial drone, and he is in constant motion, maneuvering through a maze of his own construction and destruction.
The sounds in this collection are borne out of an unsettling narrative. Certainly these sounds were meant to highlight a rising tension or a building dread, and in listening the mind begins to find images that stalk and possess the imagination. But we, as listeners, are never overwhelmed, or cast out, but are held closely, listening for the whispers, clues that will hint at our demise or our salvation.
The artwork accompanying the release perfectly mirrors the sounds Lars creates. The image hints at a vision made up all these tiny strings of sound, each tied together, each pulling apart. It’s a haunted sound world worth exploring.
Lars Lundehave Hansen is known for his sound installation work which has taken him across Europe and the UK. His most recent release Recursive Abstractions is available now on Cassette from Tonometer and it was released in special conjunction with a limited run of Canadian tour dates. You can find out more information by following his work at larslundehavehansen.dk and to purchase the album digitally or physically check out larslundehavehansen.bandcamp.com/
