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Reviews
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Ear/Rational (April 2004)
I wasn't sure I had actually hit play on this till I noticed that after about 3
minutes, that suddenly the room had grown quieter. Over this time, a low
quiet rumble had started so slowly I didn't even notice it till it was gone. But it
didn't leave, it abated and added a metal door closing in the building next
door. Seismic activity indeed! This is sound of the earth moving when you
really try to listen to it. Over 20 minutes, a delicate snowflake of a tune
develops. A nice thought piece! (Don Poe)

% ARRAY | F.0015.0011 (2003)
Ronnie Sundin's minimal soundscapes have been insinuating themselves
into my consciousness more and more of late as I revisit several works that
seem to be scattered near-permanently across my desk.

Following 2002's 'Morphei' on Hapna comes this gentle excursion on US
label and/OAR; twenty minutes of typically restrained minimal soundscapes
characterised by a now familiar array of locations including, "...that beach in
Santa Monica once again".

Sundin has an ear for detail and a distinctive feel for phrasing which is
seldom matched. Contrasting elongated near-silences with moments of
elegant sustained activity, 'Seismo', despite its brevity, is the perfect balance
of quiet coupled with quivering counterpoint. (Christopher Murphy)

Absurd - Absurdities #9 (December 2003)
Rsundin's "Seismo" 3" CDR is a recording that, to tell you the truth, so far
must be one of my favest of his work (or at least the few examples I've heard
by now). A recording whose lowercase atmosphere often brought in mind the
later works of Phauss (well actually, before listening to his 3" CDR I was
listening to "Nothing But The Truth", so...). A well crafted atmosphere based
on various textures he has used for this little diamond. I must admit that it
was a release that made me curious to check some of his recent stuff, this
one shows a great progress in his work and is worth to be checked,
especially if you are into nice obscure atmospheres. (Nicolas Malevitsis)

Vital Weekly #361 Week 9 2003)
Sundin's sound explorations are getting more subtle with every release. This
disc contains one track of twenty one and a half minutes, most of which is at
very low volume and could slide by without being noticed. But of course, once
attention is focused, a world appears, a world of microscopic events that
defies description. Hence the release. This is sheer listening material. Sit
down, take your time and just listen and enjoy. That's really all there is to it;
and that's basically all I can say, except maybe that the effort will certainly be
rewarding! (Roel Meelkop)

Cisza #02 (2003)
Not many romances of music with nature have such a delicate and
minimalistic finale. Rsundin (aka Ronnie Sundin, whose recent album
released on the Hapna label we already reviewed in Cisza.art.pl) gives it (i.e.
the romance - KA) a completely new form, forcing us to maximize our
attention. Such a state is well known among the lovers of nature.

The time in which geological phenomena lives, is counted in millions of
years - far too much for us to observe growing mountains or the forming of
meandering rivers, but even when we follow everyday "banal" events which
are easier to observe than the ones which nature has to offer, they require a
completely different perception - slowing down the rhythm of our everyday
living, even stopping it via concentration.

Among sound sources used by Rsundin are anthills and ocean waves
breaking at the shore. Here they were presented in a very reductionist way;
we can hardly recognize hums of insects' legs or that which is often abused
by many field recorders, the sea's hum. Associations automatically lead to
Francisco Lopez, Bernhard Gunter or Toy Bizarre - musicians who transform
the sound of the surrounding environment until it's completely
unrecognizable.

The listener might feel like he's the butt of the artist's joke (not everybody will
stay concentrated in front of the speakers when the amount of sound oozing
out of the speakers is reduced to a minimum), but listening to this album will
satisfy more than the die-hard connoisseurs of modern minimalism located
in a spectrum between -100 to -50 db. Ronnie Sundin has more to offer. It's
much more than just a nice concept-art project. The 20 something minutes,
despite being severe and lacking of musical events, will appear beautiful to
everyone who's holding their breath while waiting for a fish to appear under
the surface of the water, or those patient enough to wait until a spider
catches a fly in it's net. (Kamil Antosiewicz)