Audiopile Review: Every new Biosphere LP demands to at least be considered for the inestimable honour that is Audiopile Record of the Week Status. How many electronic music projects could you say that of, let alone ones in the fourth decade of their existence? But here’s Norwegian ambient veteran Geir Jenssen, swaggering in and doing just that. Having been rinsing ‘The Way of Time’ all week, we can hardly say no. In the early 90s, Biosphere was a quintessential ambient techno project, and many of today’s trendiest producers owe early Biosphere albums like ‘Patashnik’ a great debt. But Jenssen never got stuck in the chill out room. By 1997’s ‘Substrata’, his sound had become less focused on blissfully burbling synths and more concerned with darkly cinematic sample loops. And by 2016’s ‘Departed Glories’ he was delving deep into experimental abstraction. ‘The Way of Time’ will satisfy fans of all Biospheric eras. Chillers will love the warm, crystalline synth tones. ‘Substrata’ boosters will appreciate its cinemascopic gravity. And experimentalists will not be disappointed, not because it’s a particularly experimental LP, but simply because it’s not in the least bit disappointing. It most recalls 2017’s ‘The Petrified Forest’, a concept album based on a 1963 movie of the same name, featuring plenty of spooky sampled dialogue. Similarly, ‘The Way of Time’ is inspired by Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ novel ‘The Time of Man’ and samples a 1951 radio play adaptation. We loved ‘The Petrified Forest’, but now it feels rather like a trial run for the truly epic ‘The Way of Time’. This new album’s greatness is hardly a surprise, but it does feel like another courageous step in a career that’s been full of ‘em. Perhaps the most surprising thing about ‘The Way of Time’ is that it comes via the AD 93 label, which has previously released albums by Moin, Oren Ambarchi, and a diverse variety of other leftfielders. In the past, Biosphere was closely associated with the Touch label, but it’s clear that Geir Jenssen does not live in the past. If he did, he’d be cashing in by pumping out endless ‘Patashnik’ retreads. Instead, he’s forging ahead and producing some of the best music of his storied career.

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The Way Of Time takes loose inspiration from Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ novel The Time Of Man, sampling Joan Lorring’s voice from the 1951 radio play adaptation of the novel.
Biosphere’s signature ambient loops, soothing arctic synths and melodies combine with Lorring’s sweet, wistful and deep-south wonderings to create a record that is both deeply human and searching.