White Out Conditions

Bel Canto | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 5, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nettwerk Records
• ASIN: B000005DB5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,853 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blank Sheets

2. Dreaming Girl

3. Without You

4. Capio

5. Agassiz

6. Kloeberdanz

7. White-Out Conditions

8. Baltic Ice-Breaker

9. Upland

10. Chaidenoi

Editorial Reviews

Reissue of Bel Canto's first release from 1988 remarkably shows the group already well-established with their own blend of sounds into a new style, with an assurance and elegance that might otherwise have only come after many years of work together. Warner. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifuly moody album., November 17, 1998

By 

William D. Milsten (Jacksonville, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Out Conditions (Audio CD)

Bel Canto, from Tromso Norway (above the Artic Circle), is making beautiful music, and no body in America has seemed to notice. Combining ethnic beats and instruments from around the world, with Anneli Drecker's haunting and whispy vocals, Bel Canto delivers "icy-cold" moods and "wintery days" to us through their music. This is a great album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Music of Icy Dreamworlds, June 4, 2000

By 

Starlette (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Out Conditions (Audio CD)

White-Out Conditions is the shiver-inducing debut LP by Bel Canto. Their music at this point has a very cold, electronic feel to it, heightened by lyrics describing the barren landscapes of their Norwegian hometown. The selection of songs is somewhat uneven, ranging from dark ambient electronic to more upbeat new wave tunes. But what makes Bel Canto's sound stand out is their use of medieval-like strings as well as Anneli Drecker's seemingly unlimitless voice. Definetely buy this if you like Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance; maybe get it if you like Delerium and Siouxsie; avoid it if you're adverse to arty European music.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An impressive debut from a unique group., July 30, 2001

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Out Conditions (Audio CD)

Hailing from Norway, Bel Canto is a group with a unique blend of musical ideas that creates something fresh and wonderful. For a debut, White-Out Conditions reveals a remarkably strong songwriting affinity within the Drecker-Jenssen-Johansen unit of Bel Canto. Anneli Drecker is the band's most distinctive quality...she's a lovely, ethereal vocalist who develops quite a unique sound on later albums. Geir Jenssen and Nils Johansen create serene tapestries of electronics along with flutes, mandolins, and dashes of eclectic ethnicity for variety. (More diverse instrumentation would also come on later albums.) Over the layers of synthesizers, Drecker creates melodies with her singing, and the cool gentleness of the overall musical effect is absolutely enchanting. The lyrics are simple, but conveyed through Drecker's voice they gain an unusual dimension of feeling, like on "Without You" where the solemnity of the song is powerfully expressed by Drecker's sweeping vocal style. The big highlight for me is "Upland," a brilliant work of electronics with striking melodic progressions and haunting vocals. The playful "Agassiz" evokes a folk-dance, with Drecker's feisty vocals cooing with infectious liveliness. The wonderful vocal melodies in "Blank Sheets" and the dramatic "White-Out Conditions" also make for great music.