It is indeed a wondrously varied world of music that we live in today with everything from the regimented loops of the dancefloor to the non-sequiturs of the avant-garde being present and correct and available for streaming on your favourite platform. Yet, despite the variety, the art of making music that has the traditional values of both scope and purpose has not been lost and “All The Difference” by Norwegian composer Runar Blesvik is a fine example of what, I hope, will never be lost in the worship of the false god of the computer.
Runar Blesvik is clearly literate in the ways of music and these six examples of the wordless invocation of emotion merge classical intent and ambient influences into the timeframe expected of a collection of pop songs with none of these six musical interludes being extended extemporisations of anything with only two briefly exceeding the four minute mark that is perhaps the perimeter value of the modern day attention span. There is no doubt, however, that this choice is deliberate as if to enforce a discipline of timely completion whilst still encouraging the mind to ponder things both personal and of wonder. It helps greatly that Runar Blesvik is fluent in the ways of that most expressive of music instruments, the piano, and by balancing the loops and repetition expected of today with the rather more traditional sensibilities expected of, say, the string quartet, “All The Difference” easily makes the jump between soundtrack cues and the soundtrack to metaphysical musings.
“All The Difference” is indeed a studious album but it does not lack in the expression of emotion and, perhaps because of its entirely instrumental concept, it provides an effective means of, to borrow from the title of Sister Sledge’s dancefloor smash, of becoming lost in music.