The Setting is the trio of Eivind Opsvik on bass, Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizers, and Will Graefe on acoustic guitars. Opsvik provides the compositions on their eponymous debut album, which is available on vinyl February 20 through the Loyal Label. The cited influences are synthesizer music from the 1970s and ’80s, ECM guitar records, and art pop with a tendency toward experimentation, but there are also touches of ambient and jazz in a sound that’s unhurried and satisfying.
In addition to the instruments designated above, Elias Stemeseder plays the Wurlitzer electric piano and the lute-harpsichord (aka lautenwerck), while Will Graefe adds electronics and utilizes a Leslie speaker. Eivind Opsvik is credited with operating a drum machine in the overall scheme of an album that’s as welcoming as it is progressive in scope.
Opener “Corner Song” establishes the album’s art-pop bona fides, hitting a sweet spot between Eno (both pre and post-ambient) and certain entries in the early Ralph Records discography (both Residential and non). It’s worthy of note that nothing screamingly weird is happening here; instead, the sound swings toward the calmness displayed by Eno as the 1980s approached.
This is not to say that your square-ass co-worker won’t look askance if they overhear this record playing in your cubicle during lunch break, but that’s ultimately a reflection on them, not The Setting. Nor will it be a reflection on you.
The melodic progression in “By the Light of the Moon” is an early highlight that’s enhanced by the unique flavor of the instrumental blending. “I Will Have to Whisper This” turns the spotlight onto Graefe’s deft fingerpicking and (what I assume is) Opsvik bowing his double bass. This track’s atmosphere effectively taps into the ECM sound referenced above.
“Sacromonte” starts out jazzy enough (upright bass has an obvious way of establishing a jazz foundation), only to shift with assurance into an avant-pop glisten and wiggle with baroque-chamber undertones and long gusts of sustained synth. It’s a fun one. First heard, there’s effectively no way to predict at the start where this one is going to end up.
At its beginning, “Flourishing Flakes” leans heavily into synth crescendos only to detour into string plucks that quickly blend with the synth washes as they make a return. “Hold On Tight to Your Music” is another showcase for Graefe as the piece wields peaks and valleys of compositional grandeur.
“Sivilisasjon i Rommet” has some affinities to ambient music, but the overall tension and edge place it nearer to drone, although this is another track here that moves around a lot. “Time to Wake Up” is more sparse and also quite pretty. “Union Pains” offers a bolder sweep that’s melodic development is still highly assured, and closer “The Big Yard” reasserts the peacefulness that is a recurring motif on the album. But not lazily employed, as The Setting eschews the predictable on a superb first effort.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
