hails from Tromso, Norway, a city 500 miles above the Arctic Circle. A founding member of quasi-new age Norwegian trio
recorded a pair of albums with that group for Belgium's Crammed label before departing to record solo, first as
. He released a number of
singles through the late '90s on Crammed subsidiary SSR, as well as the full-length
, issued in 1990 and an acknowledged precursor of what became known as ambient techno. Fusing elements of composition derived from environmental experimentalists such as
with the rhythmic backbone of urban dance styles such as techno and acid house, ambient techno's popularity would grow with the popularity of artists such as
Jenssen's first material under that name, the full-length
Microgravity, appeared in 1991 on the Norwegian Origo Sound label, and was picked up for international release by R&S subsidiary Apollo the following year. In 1993, in addition to a score for the Norwegian film Evige Stjerner ("Eternal Stars") and work for a multimedia installation,
Jenssen collaborated with German ambient composer
Pete Namlook on the Fax release
The Fires of Ork, reissued the following year by Apollo.
Jenssen returned to
Biosphere in 1994 with a second full-length,
Patashnik, and a subsequent live tour, the success of which landed one of
Jenssen's tracks ("Novelty Waves") in a Levi's commercial. In 1995,
Jenssen collaborated with
Higher Intelligence Agency's
Bobby Bird, performing the live improvisational piece "Polar Frequencies," released by Apollo in 1996.
Substrata and
Insomnia followed in 1997, with the decade closed out with 1999's Birmingham Frequencies, a live recording with Bird. During the 2000s,
Jenssen remained active with a series of albums on the Touch label, highlighted by the Debussy-inspired Shenzhou (2002), Dropsonde (2006), and Wireless (2009).
–
Sean Cooper, Rovi