Steinar Karlsen (2) – Destination Venus

Norway’s 21st century guitar hero Steinar Karlsen has appeared in many reviews and many writers and radio stations have enjoyed spinning his music over the past decade. It’s been a while but Steinar Karlsen returns in 2020 with Destination Venus. Co-produced, engineered and mixed by Bård Ingegrigtsen, the 12-track, 36 minute Destination Venus features Steinar’s guitars, synths, mellotron and more, backed up by a range of players including Martin Langlie (drums, percussion) and Eirik Øien (bass), as well as Børd Ingegrigtsen who also adds rhythm guitar on a track along with Marita Vardal Igelkjøn on musical saw. With song titles like “Picnic On The Moon”, “Space Camel”, “A Billion Stars”, “Venus” listed on the back of the CD cover, the theme of Destination Venus may ostensibly be outer space, but that’s just one among many musical signposts. The album combines Steinar’s fascination with 1960s guitar instrumentals, yet there’s also something quite earthy about this album, like a human being trying to make sense of the bewilderment of the galaxies and the infinite possibilities of the solar system. There’s nothing alien sounding about Destination Venus and a good example of Steinar’s earthbound resilience is the album’s lead off track, “The Goodbye”, which sounds like a Norwegian-inspired instrumental that Ry Cooder might have written in his heyday. Another good example of this album’s eclectic nature is the track “The Karman Line” which is a very Scandinavian meets neo-progressive rock track that combines Steinar’s jazzy guitar work with a memorable Euro-sounding melodic approach. A definite highlight here, “Space Camel”, combines surging vintage keyboards with an enticing style rock fusion arrangement that truly takes the listener into unknown territory. Another highlight track, “Monsters” is a driving, guitar-centric rock instrumental with very spooky sounding keyboards and Theremin-style accoutrements. One track that does live up to its cosmic connection is the short but sweet “Red Skies”, a track that could almost, funny enough, pass as a New Age track. Those are just among the album’s highlights but in the case of Destination Venus, the whole is clearly more than the sum of its parts and the sound and vision is truly as deep as the universe itself. Although Steinar Karlsen has released a wide range of acclaimed guitar-based instrumental albums over the past decade, perhaps Destination Venus is both his finest yet and certainly his most upbeat and colorful sounding album. Steinar Karlsen brings his colorful blend of instrumental guitar music to an interplanetary level of intrigue on Destination Venus.