Birmingham Frequencies [2LP]

Higher Intelligence Agency & Biosphere - Birmingham Frequencies [2LP]

“Birmingham Frequencies”, a landmark ambient classic recorded in 1997 by Higher Intelligence Agency and Biosphere, receives its first release on vinyl. The follow up to “Polar Sequences”, a previous collaborative project between Biosphere & HIA, “Birmingham Frequencies” features location recordings of the city’s sonic landscape, captured by Bobby Bird and Geir Jenssen, which form the basis of the compositions. “Birmingham Frequencies” was first presented in concert on October 4th, 1997 within the sublime circular rhythms of the Birmingham Rotunda, and was released on CD in 2000. Described as a ‘vivid late night urban sound track’ with an ‘exquisitely burnished, Lynch/ Badalamenti soundtrack style’, two of the tracks, ‘Narrowboat’ and ‘Midpoint’, feature in Peter Mettler’s recent epic visionary cinema release ‘While the Green Grass Grows’. Now made available as a deluxe double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, & meticulously remastered by Stefan Betke (Pole) at Scape Mastering, this release forms a complementary counterpart to the recent vinyl release of “Polar Sequences”, and is an essential addition to any collection of works by these two artists. Boomkat Review (2019 CD re-issue) “Birmingham Frequencies” is Biosphere and Bobby Bird’s atmospheric reading of the Brummy pulse at the turn of the millennium. The album explores intersections of location recordings with filigree ambient tones between dual poles of rugged, range-finding dub, and exquisitely burnished Lynch/Badalamenti soundtrack styles to present a portrait of Birmingham that’s much more romantic and dreamy than you may imagine, ely if you know the place. 20 years later, the album effectively marks a midway point between original, late ‘70s/early ‘80s ambient pioneers and the modern field. It trades in a mixture of crisply polished, well established, classical ambient notions that reflect foundational forms by Eno and Hassell, and a strain of more technoid investigation that’s perhaps prescient of producers such as Uon or Pendant. A1. Cannon Hill (7:43) A2. Gas Street Basin (7:06) B1. Narrowboat (6:28) B2. The Rotunda (5:46) C1. Augusta Road (10:47) D1. Midpoint (11:17)