Adam Wiltzie and Jóhann Jóhannsson – Friendship Survival Guide – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Adam Wiltzie and Jóhann Jóhannsson were working on a collaboration before the latter’s tragic death in 2018.  Wiltzie has continued to work on this, and it is now ready for release.  For anyone familiar with either composer, this work will feel familiar: lots of string-based material, some heavily treated guitar sounds, and other interesting, hard-to-identify musical sounds.

As with both of their output, they avoid obvious melodies, opting instead for sweeping strings on the opener, September Nineteen Sixty Nine (both their birth months).  Dazed and Reflective Glory comes in two parts, and the strings are accompanied by otherworldly sounds on a downcast melody, the second part being slightly noisier.

The tranquil Mourners Will Be Outcast has a title that seems like a last laugh for Johannsson, while Exceptional Proportions and Soft Favourites are even more becalmed.  These will appeal to anyone who favours the more Stars of the Lid type output, the latter approaching some sort of sonic nirvana (small n).  Give Into Gravity and White Gloves and Turtlenecks have great orchestral swells.  The final two tracks are possibly the high point of the album.  In Ever Decreasing Circles seems to dredge up sounds from the bottom of the ocean.  The noise level is dialled up on the final track, Where Are You Now Voyager, with what sounds like muffled static.

It’s always good to hear something new from Adam Wiltzie, and great to have Jóhann Jóhannsson’s final work available to hear; it’s a pretty nice way to spend 45 minutes or so.

White Gloves and Turtlenecks: