AMG Review of Insomnia

Sean Cooper
All Music Guide

Geir Jenssen's score for Erik Skjoldbjaerg's acclaimed 1997 film, Insomnia, was also released on CD by the Norwegian label Origo Sound, home to Jenssen's earlier Bel Canto recordings and a snatch of recent Biosphere reissues. As with other of Jenssen's latest releases (Substrata, Polar Sequences), his Insomnia score (here separated out into 17 separate tracks, most between two and five minutes) is tense, indolent stuff. The pressure is diminished somewhat by the brevity of the tracks, but those looking for the conceptual breadth typical of his non-cinematic works will be somewhat disappointed (although, to be sure, such expectations ignore the fact that Insomnia is, after all, a film score). The above caveat noted, however, this is beautiful work.