LINKS:
The North Sea
The North Sea releases
Digitalis Industries

REVIEWS:
"The North Sea on Digitalis Industries -mies Brad Rosen projekti, jonka nimellä ilmestyi Council of Trees -niminen CD-R. Tunnelmallista, rakeisen kaunista ja kovin orgaanista tunnelmointia. Sopii ainakin tällaisiin kirkkaisiin kevättalvipäiviin; herättää kuvia kun aurinko häikäisee liikaa, jotta voisi oikeasti mitään nähdä." Jaakob Karhu

"Brad Rose's The North Sea are highly prolific and now we have two more releases 'Council of Trees' and 'Autumn Birch'. Slowly Brad appears to be moving beyond music itself and into the world of natural sound, at times close to Luc Ferrari and Bernard Parmegiani, communing at the miscropic level. It's like he never wants to come back to the city, content to merge with the fauna, the fungi, the trees. 'Green Folliage Forever' he titles his tracks, his journey is like a spiritual journey, his music almost impercepitble hymns. Even here though the ominous sits in the air, ever present though quiet. The natural places do not exist for our amusement, if we want to stay we must become part of the process of growth and decay." Lord of Misrule, Unbroken Circle

"this new cdr from Digitalis / Foxglove man Brad Rose starts with his familiar arcing delayed guitar sprays then delves into a more childlike forest folk territory with fluttering pipes, scraped bowings, jingling percussion and melodica - good stuff yet again" Boa Melody Bar

"The North Sea solo project of Digitalis Industries main man Brad Rose has delivered an impressive and prolific body of work in the form of several album length and 3" CDRs in the latter half of 2004 and early months of 2005. Despite the sheer volume of material released in such a short space of time, quality has certainly not been forsaken in favour of quantity and the latest offering "Council of Trees" on the Finland-based 267Lattajjaa imprint is no exception. "I Saw The Sunset Melt The Sky" kicks off the proceedings with a heady swirl of delay and reverb-heavy solo electric guitar that is joined at the tail end of the track with more heavily processed sonic spirals that are barely recognizable as electric guitar. This gives way to the sound of randomly strummed and beaten acoustic guitars and glockenspiel on "Snap Dragon" that seems to punctuate the transition from the electric chaos of the opening track to the blissful warmth and positivity of the acoustic guitar and cello duet on "Green Foliage Forever", complete with bird-song and haunting piano that drifts in and out of the track. This track like many of The North Sea's compositions doesn't so much generate aural atmospherics as it does whole environments from psychedelic sound. Indeed one minute "Green Foliage Forever" has you lying on your back in a meadow on a hot August afternoon staring upwards at a cloudless sky, then "Translucent Coastal Plains" transports us to a South American rain forest floor to be serenaded by undulating waves of piano and lightly phased acoustic guitar strums all backed by almost percussive sounding calls of New World monkeys from the forest canopy. "Silver Tissue" sees more synthesis of novel and alien sounds from the electric guitar and what I imagine is a huge collection of effects pedals in Brad's musical arsenal. "We Eat Pines Cones" in contrast, casts off the technology in favour of ritualistic bowed acoustic string drones and flute, deep in the heart of an ancient forest. "Rosemary" returns to the playful clatter, chaos and glockenspiel abuse of "Snap Dragon" before our senses are finally soothed once more with lazy acoustic strums and scrapes by the lapping edge of a tranquil lake. On earlier North Sea releases there was a definite bias one way or another between Brad's trademark organic electric psychedelia and his minimal acoustic avant-folk and field recording based compositions. On "Council of Trees" we get a good balance of both sides of the artist's oeuvre such that this album would probably make an ideal first album for those wanting to experience The North Sea for the first time. **** " Psychedelic Albums

"The North Sea on Digitalis Industries -mies Brad Rosen melkoisen tuottelias projekti. Tämä CD-R on ainut käsiini päätynyt tekele tähän mennessä, mutta levyjä näyttää putkahtelevan ulos kovassa tahdissa. Council of Trees sisältää 8 kappaletta, joilla Brad ilmeisesti yksinään soittelee melko leppoisaa, orgaanista psykedeliaa. Levyn aloittava "I Watched the Sunset Melt the Sky" on parilla efektoidulla sähkökitaralla vedetty hieman noiseen päin kallellaan oleva improvisaatio. Sitä seuraa lyhyt, hassu kilistely "Snap Dragon", jonka jälkeen Brad pääsee itse asiaan eli rentouttavaan akustiseen folkkiin linnunlaulun säestämänä. Myös jousisoittimin maustettu "Green Foliage Forever" onkin ehkä levyn paras kappale, hienoa menoa. Myös "Translucent Coastal Plains" sisältää kitaran lisäksi eläimenääniä. Mukavaa kellumista. "Silver Tissue" jatkaa melko minimalistista linjaa ihan kivasti. "We Eat Pine Cones" onkin sitten jousisoittimien ja jonkin huilun voimin etenevä drone. Kokeellista, akustista melskausta sisältää vekkuli "Rosemary", kunnes pääsemme levyn pisimpään ja viimeiseen kappaleeseen "Autumn Revery". Jälleen mukana on luonnonääniä veden liplatuksen, linnunlaulun sekä sammakon kurnutuksen muodossa. Hiljainen, rauhallinen akustinen kitara luo näiden elementtien kanssa erittäin meditatiivisen tilan, johon yhtyy kohta myös viulu tai sello. Lopussa mukana on myös joku vaimea urkusoundi. Ihan kiinnostava levy, vaikka ei tästä muutamalla kuuntelulla jää mitän muuta mieleen kuin melko harras tunnelma. 7/10" Astro, Palasokeri