Quiet Places

I hope you'll enjoy this collection of ambient tracks which I have composed and produced here in my home town of Stavern, Norway. There is something melancholic, comforting about this place, especially in the sleepy winter season, and I have tried to bring that into this music. The tracks on this album were composed over quiet a long period of time, from 2005 until late 2007. I decided from the beginning to work on this project only when I really felt like it. I didn't want to approach it as a "job", something to be finished within a time frame. Instead, I only worked on it when I was in the mood for it and it felt natural and right. That made it a slow, but enjoyable process. Thanks for listening! Throughout the CD cover, there are a number of photos, all taken within 1 km of my home, where I composed and recorded this music. ------- Customer reviews of "Quiet Places": "It's as if you took the Six Feet Under soundtrack and merged it with your previous works. I've always loved the airy sound of the music of SFU, and this is just like it!" - Jakob Persson, Sweden --- "It´s like a dream flying through the air, wanting to be touched with your hands and beeing saved in your heart. You feel some kind of sadness and lost but on the other hand, you long for the rays of the sun to let you lift up again. Man, this sound is love with her music face." - Jean, Germany --- "I've always found that the best music is the music that is inspired by the very simple things that you see everyday. Regardless of the artist or composer, anything from a simple walk in the park or a drive down a lonely road can be the inspiration for a piece of music that touches the hearts of everyone who listens to it. Quiet Places in every way shape and form embodies that sentiment perfectly. It is, in my opinion, born of the same peaceful nature and reflective quality that first drew me to Bjorn's work, in his Witchwood albums, but there is far more to this album than simply nature. Listening to this album does significantly more than simply inspire in me images of water and fields, clouds and forests. It brings me to a place deep within myself, where I can look both outward at the world around me and into the very depths of my own soul. It creates exactly what the album declares. A quiet place for me to simply BE. It doesn't demand my full attention, while listening to every track, I can allow my mind to wander, going to places that the usual busyness of my life won't usual let me. For me, this album is best listened to in the car, on long drives by myself, when there is nothing but my mind and the distant horizon ahead of me. But I think that anywhere you can listen, and simply be quiet for a while is the place where you will get the most out of this album. Take a few minutes out of your day and just listen. I truly don't believe that I've ever heard anything like it. And I highly doubt you will have either." - Brian Smit, USA --- "Here's my one-sentence summary of this album: ambiance at its best. Melancholic, relaxing, dreamy with just a few dissonant undertones to make it interesting. Those looking for background music for yoga, tai-chi or any other similar activity will find this album perfect. Those looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of a busy urban life will find this album perfect. Those just looking for peace and quiet will find this album perfect. I certainly do. The melodic Kaleidoscope and the piano-heavy Solnatt are my two favorite tracks. I really like how variations on the Deep Secrets theme intertwine all the other tracks giving this album a framework upon which it is built. Pardon my pun, but it's like a "deeply secret" river running underneath a pink and blue fairyland. This is about as good as music gets both from an artistic and a technical point of view. So, let Bjørn be your guide and his music your vessel touching your heart and mind while dreaming pleasent dreams..." - Imre Olajos Jr, USA --- "I wish I could be more articulate in my praise for this album, but simply put, as someone who has bought pretty much every one of Bjorn's CDs, I consider this his finest album to date. It successfully fuses a lot of the atmospheric nature of the tracks on 'The Void' (my previous favorite album, btw) with the textures and flow that were at times actually reminiscent of his Divinorum work. This is one album I simply have yet to get enough of -- during the day, at night, while working, heck, even while playing World of Warcraft -- it has provided me a great deal of audible enjoyment and thus I can't really recommend it highly enough to anyone and everyone." - Kurt Roithinger, USA --- "It actually seems to be the first time Bjørn dedicates a whole album to ambient music. I didn't know what to expect, as a long term fan. I recalled some very moving ambient interludes (in Witchwood for instance), but also some recent pieces of work that tended to be a little flat - like Soothe - to my taste, of course. Well, I've been listening to it non stop since I received it. Bjørn definitely achieved something very convincing. Quiet Places is really varied - no time to get bored - and sets a positive mood that recharges one's batteries. As Bjørn himself describes it (cannot find better words), it's melancholic and comforting at the same time. It induces no strain at all, no depression. Just makes you feel good, in a serene, positive way. Probably not as ground breaking as The Void, or not as old-school / demoscene-tainted as Hobbits, it definitely is a very mature album that is unique in Bjørn discography and that can be listened to much more frequently than any other of his albums." - Mahendra Tallur, France --- "Quiet Places makes for really nice listening while resting relaxed on the couch, dreaming of your beautiful home country! It's especially nice during studying for an exam, which I'm currently doing. And knowing that you composed this "when you really felt like it" - as opposed to a job with a timeframe - during the last two years makes it really special I'd say. I can only say: go on like this! :)" - Frank Zavelberg, Germany