Karsten Hamre - Through Alien Eyes

This is a very interesting project from the start. We Karsten Hamre, a Greek photographer and also a dark ambient musician. And, well, he has combined both of those talents to create Through Alien Eyes. Now, the album is not solely about the music, no, it is also about the pictures he has taken throughout Europe. The music surrounding the pictures are inspirations of the various locations he has visited, and, in his own words, "...the audio part associated with this publication is sort of an audio documentation of the impressions I've had in these places, and the music is inspired by what you can hear around you, though not meant as an exact documentation of what I heard at certain times but merely as a source of inspiration."

The title, Through Alien Eyes, was chosen due to the fact that the artist was an outsider when visiting these vast locations, therefore being an alien. However, enough background on the actual events leading to the title of choice, and onto the music. But, then, therein lies a problem.

You cannot simply take the album as merely a dark ambient album, and nor can you just take the photos alone and look at them. The real beauty in this album lies within the combination of both. While looking at the hundred plus pictures within the digital booklet, I also played the music as I slowly scrolled through each one of the photos. This was a pretty fantastic experience.

I think what would have made the experience more energetic is if it was presented to me in slide show format on a theater sized screen as I sat alone in the middle of the seating section. Either an eerie presence would have descended me, or I would have felt very relaxed and at home. I mean, the black and white pictures of religious figures perfectly compliments the music, and I was waiting for the statues to start moving and come out of the screen towards me.

However, once you take the imagery away and listen to the music on its own, it really isn't the best. It's good, and it's moving (else I would not have been able to collapse into the photos as I did), but without the imagery accompanying it, I find it an album that I can easily skip through.

As a package, Through Alien Eyes is quite beautiful. I loved looking through all the images captured by the artist juxtaposed with his music, but, when the music is taken by itself, it just loses some of its charm. There certainly was effort put behind it, I can tell you that much, but, unless you're going to be taking in Through Alien Eyes as a whole package, you may want to skip over it. Oct 18 2013