Opera Plus

The packaging gives little details about this album except for three names — Andreas Berthling, Johan Berthling, and Tomas Hallonsten — and a long list of instruments that includes guitars, laptop, harmonica, glockenspiel, and Styrofoam. Vintage analog synthesizers neighbor zithers, field recordings, and high-tech digital manipulation in this underwritten and strangely seducing "opera." There are no vocals and no plot, so the music owes more to the pastorale than any operatic form, especially since its beauty verges on cuteness. The approach is resolutely avant-garde. The trio, Tape, doesn't just steal the most palatable trends from the experimental scene to give its tunes an edge, it integrates many processes and ideas to a form of instrumental music that stands closer to '50s and '60s Scandinavian folk than anything usually tagged "post-rock." The only possible comparison would be to Collections of Colonies of Bees or Telecognac. Here it is a simple acoustic guitar motif providing a backbone for crowded arrangements. There the harmonium drones while a harmonica states a deceptively simple melody. Elsewhere, digital collage turns ageless, peaceful instrument playing into cutting-edge improvisation. The pieces remain concise, yet nothing is rushed or forced down the listener's throat. Opera has substance, yet it goes by effortlessly, like a dream. Definitely worth your time. [Häpna's 2008 edition included bonus material.] ~ François Couture, Rovi