Icebreaker International and Manual - Into Forever
(Morr)
There seems to be a theme of extraordinary travel to Icebreaker's already hyper-conceptualized music. Following the sea-faring voyage of Trein Maersk, Icebreaker's next trip is into the nether regions of space with Into Forever, an album-length collaboration between Alexander Perls of Icebreaker and Jonas Munk of Manual.
Like all of Icebreaker's work, the theme presented in the titles and cover art is directly translated to the music on the album. Whereas Distant Early Warning was cold and minimal, just like its Artic inspiration, and Trein Maersk drifted off into commercial techno and dance music, drawing inspiration from the metropolitain ports "visited" on the album, Into Forever is ambient, soft, and ethereal—very "space"y. And what better electronic artist to collaborate with for such a project than Manual. Manual is unique in how he integrates shoegaze and space rock sounds into ambient techno, so the utilization of Manual's soundbank in Icebreaker's latest "NATO-funded" voyage to space makes perfect sense. Much of the music here works much like Manual's previous two albums work, using slow, gentle melodies and the softest beds of tone atop rapid but gentle click-tracks and beats, such as "A Thousand Years," a very soothing and calming nine minute drone. Perls does have a strong presence though. In "A Turning," the lead guitar is not a wave of sound, like in Munk's standard sound, but rather bare and skeletal. In "Beacons," warm, twinkling melodies come out from underneath Munk's waves of tone, echoing through the space. This combination of the two voices works wonderfully on the album, Perls expanding upon Munk's sound, and Munk keeping Perls in check, stopping him from ruining the soft, supple sound of the record. Anyone interested in Icebreaker or Manual should definitely check out this collaboration.
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