Jóhann Jóhannsson
Fordlandia
Release Date: Nov 4, 2008
Genre(s): Electronic, Experimental
Record label: 4AD
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Album Review: Fordlandia by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Fordlandia's shorter pieces are nearly as heady and substantial as its major tracks: "Chimaerica"'s title blends the monster of Greek mythology with America, and its mournful pipe organ melody underscores the feeling that this album is a funeral service for the American dream. Variations on the "Melodia" theme tie the larger pieces together, appearing first as a clarinet-driven piece that evokes Ford's '20s heyday, then augmented with deep guitars inspired by Sunn 0)))'s work, and finally as a ghostly wash of strings and clarinets. Another 13-minute elegy, "How We Left Fordlandia," closes the album by uniting its concepts and musical themes in a somber but satisfying farewell.
Based on rating 6/10
Since his birth as the artist as we all know him, Jóhann Jóhannsson seems duly committed to the idea of making “more-than-music”. The label he runs on the side, Kitchen Motors, doubles as a “think tank” dedicated to “the search for new art forms and breaking down the barriers between forms, genres and disciplines”, as though their highest achievement would be the creation of a room that allowed us to experience music through all five senses of the body. (That would be pretty cool, actually.) The records he releases under his own name reflect his ambition, both in concept and execution.