Autour de la Lune
Encyclopedia
Autour de la Lune is an album by ambient
musician Biosphere
which was released on May 17, 2004. The album presents a striking difference from others in the Biosphere catalog due to its percussionless, minimalistic soundscapes consisting mostly of white noise and the sounds of the Mir
space station, related to drone music
. It featured cover art by the Norwegian contemporary artist Tor-Magnus Lundeby.
s employed on this album are comparable to Coil
's 1998 album Time Machines
in their timbre and slow rate of change.
The bulk of this work was originally commissioned and broadcast in September 2003 by Radio France
Culture for a musical evocation of Jules Verne
. As a book, Autour de la Lune (1870, Around the Moon
) was Jules Verne's sequel to his De la Terre à la Lune (1865, From the Earth to the Moon
). The first one dealt with the Earth part of the story until the ship's launching, from the outside. Autour de la Lune dealt from the inside of the ship with the launching and the actual space travel to and around the moon.
The album's titles are French for "Translatory", "Rotatory", "Modified", "Vibratory", "Deviation", "Rotary", "Disappeared", "Reverse", "Falling", and evoke the movements of a rocket around the moon and back.
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
musician Biosphere
Biosphere (musician)
Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen , a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his "ambient techno" and "arctic ambient" styles, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His track "Novelty...
which was released on May 17, 2004. The album presents a striking difference from others in the Biosphere catalog due to its percussionless, minimalistic soundscapes consisting mostly of white noise and the sounds of the Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
space station, related to drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
. It featured cover art by the Norwegian contemporary artist Tor-Magnus Lundeby.
Overview
Autour de la Lune stands as the most minimal and austere Biosphere album to date. The droneDrone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
s employed on this album are comparable to Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
's 1998 album Time Machines
Time Machines
Time Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of four tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical...
in their timbre and slow rate of change.
The bulk of this work was originally commissioned and broadcast in September 2003 by Radio France
Radio France
Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...
Culture for a musical evocation of Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
. As a book, Autour de la Lune (1870, Around the Moon
Around the Moon
Around the Moon , Jules Verne's sequel to From the Earth to the Moon, is a science fiction novel continuing the trip to the moon which left the reader in suspense after the previous novel...
) was Jules Verne's sequel to his De la Terre à la Lune (1865, From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
). The first one dealt with the Earth part of the story until the ship's launching, from the outside. Autour de la Lune dealt from the inside of the ship with the launching and the actual space travel to and around the moon.
Track listing
- "Translation" – 21:43
- "Rotation" – 11:08
- "Modifié" – 5:10
- "Vibratoire" – 3:36
- "Déviation" – 10:26
- "Circulaire" – 6:15
- "Disparu" – 2:26
- "Inverse" – 5:32
- "Tombant" – 8:07
The album's titles are French for "Translatory", "Rotatory", "Modified", "Vibratory", "Deviation", "Rotary", "Disappeared", "Reverse", "Falling", and evoke the movements of a rocket around the moon and back.