https://youtu.be/kLSkuUoRWnE
https://youtu.be/EwkYfXY1wfY

Richard Pinhas' album Iceland was first released in 1979 and is his third solo work, also the first after the split
from Heldon. This album seems like a long, inward-looking journey and is like a kind of counter-point to the
expansive sci-fi worlds and the bombastic prog of Heldon; on Iceland you will find long, sublime tracks next to
short, rougher sketches. Echo guitars, rhythm machines and the washed-out warmth of analog synthesizer
sounds create a very peculiar, chilling atmosphere.
Bureau B is grateful to make this Richard Pinhas album finally available again.
Years ago I sent a friend Metatron/Shaddaï/Chabbataï, one of my favourite ever pieces of music. He replied ‘One marvels at how much time and care this must’ve taken’. Which is true for all Richard Pinhas’ recordings. Even here, in its absolute starkness - ‘Iceland’ is the perfect description of this music - when you start to focus on the details contained within these juggernauts of atmosphere, you sense the precision involved with each element, its place in the mix meticulously chosen.
Despite the nature of the sounds, there is nothing cold about Pinhas’ appreciation of the record. Enthusing over aspects of how he made certain tracks - recording with his first ARP 2600, using ‘white noise as the source!...creating these very special voices’, playing his original 1957 Black Beauty Les Paul, and how François Auger’s fantastic drumming ‘enlightens Greenland’ with his softness of touch. For a man often critical of his own work, Pinhas tells me that he ‘loves’ Iceland, that it ranks in the top 5 of his records.
‘Cold music was and still is the goal.’ I must confess I don’t know what to make of this last statement. ‘Cold’ isn’t a word I normally associate with Pinhas’ music. The best of it, Metatron etc., mesmerizes with .......
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