REVIEWS

Tor Lundvall
Last Light

Strange Fortune

Posted: Thursday, March 30, 2006
By: Nate Rand

Last Light is a rare treat; a minimalist, foreboding, ambient head trip that speaks directly to the emotions. No gimmicks are used. The clutter common to so many electronic albums is completely non-existent on this release. Every composition is a stripped down brooding mood piece that manages to tap into the subconscious in a subtle and unobtrusive manner. Lundvall crafts skeletal expanses of sound and weaves airy textures of loss into quietly monolithic songs, haunting the listener with visions of what might have been had they held on for one more moment. In fact, these songs could almost more appropriately be referred to as scenes as they conjure forth events from memory and imagination. One is reminded of the films of the Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky, whose stark yet lyrical imagery told the story that was largely left out of his character’s dialogue.

Standout tracks include “The Pond” (which bears a striking resemblance to Within the Realm of a Dying Sun era Dead Can Dance), “Storm” (a noir-ish trip through fog-choked alleyways), and “Blue Room” (a hellish window into black despair). “Sunday Evening” stands as the best Last Light has to offer; a powerful, evocative catafalque of sonic opiates pierced by Lundvall’s mournful voice. Last Light succeeds at being a superior example of its genre, and it is a must have for those in need of a quiet evening alone with the ghosts of their past. Tor Lundvall has achieved a very difficult feat with this effort: he has managed to describe very complex regions of the human psyche with very few brushstrokes. His command of his medium often approaches poetry in its simplicity. Last Light is moody, phantasmagoric, spellbinding, and essential.