Johann Johannson - Fordlandia

  by Anthony Middleton

published: 8 / 11 / 2008

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A sprawling, orchestral work about the conceited attempt of an American Robber Baron to colonise part of the Amazon basin to cultivate rubber may appear a convoluted enterprise. An instrumental work will succeed without a theme or story supplied in order for the listener to understand it. That’s why classical music has lots of third symphonies in F minor or whatever, rather than musical musings on specific themes or tales. It’s part of what makes the music less anchored to a time and place and more open to our own interpretation. Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, has built a reputation for creating sublime music from the most prosaic of beginnings. His 2006 work, 'IBM 1401, A User's Manual', was inspired from the instructions to his dad’s old computer. That said, Fordlandia’s purported theme is compelling. The attempt, happily disastrous, by Henry Ford to take over a huge tract of Brazil to grow the raw materials for car tyres, symbolises the self important, voracious behaviour of corporations since the Industrial Revolution. The opening, eponymous track, begins in near silence, the peace disturbed only by the odd repressed distant note, before settling into melancholic strings that are juxtaposed with sharp, electronic counterpoints. The destruction of an Eden is perhaps being suggested. If Jóhannsson’s intention was to make us consider the themes in a more emotional and lateral manner, then he succeeds. If his intention was to make us think he is a bit pretentious and has a tendency to over egg the artistic pudding, then he also succeeds. While Ford’s folly is rich enough fare, the album has other themes provided: To quote the blurb: “A Victorian poetess laments the death of Pan. A pagan rocket scientist blows himself up in his Californian garage. A crippled German physicist draws up the equations which can make faster than light travel possible.” All of this really is best either ignored or taken with a pinch of salt or you end up torturing yourself trying to decide if it’s the violin solo or the French horn that represents the pagan scientist. The album has such a breadth of styles and moods, which it’s difficult not to think of as a soundtrack to a film that exists only in Jóhannsson imagination. 'The Rocket Builder' is an amalgam of modern and classical techniques; haunting strings, restrained synths with a foreboding presence. 'Chimerica' is beautifully simple organ piece, while the pithily titled, 'Melodia (Guidelines for a Propoulsion Device Based on Heim’s Quantum Theory)' again uses swathes of strings over more functional and repetitive electronic sequences. At times the effect is similar to Bowie’s instrumental experimental period of 'Low and Heroes'. Given the Amazonian setting, the soundtrack to The Mission is also relevant here. More accessible that anything really experimental, Fordlandia exists somewhere between classical, an artistic whole, and soundtrack, which doesn’t necessarily make sense alone. The album is vast and majestic at times, personal and controlled at others. The wonderful final 15 minute track, 'How We Left Fordlandia', swells to a massive orchestral swirl before dissolving to long, peaceful climax, mirroring the album’s opening and, if we buy into the storyline, the final victory of the jungle.

Track Listing:-

1 Fordlândia
2 melodia (i)
3 The Rocket Builder (Lo Pan!)
4 melodia (ii)
5 Fordlândia - Aerial View
6 melodia (iii)
7 Chimaerica
8 melodia (iv)
9 The Great God Pan is Dead
10 Melodia (Guidelines for a Propulsion Device based on Heim's Quantum Theory)
11 How We Left Fordlândia

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