An absolutely unique album consisting of three pieces made for Trondheim Voices by Danish composer, artist, musician and more Aske Zidore. All very different in compositional structure and expression, this one stands out for me as a diverse and forward thinking approach to experimental vocal music. Album came out via Anyines in January this year. I also had the privilege of working on the press material and PR back then.
The Norwegian experimental musician Håvard Volden has the CV of a lifer. For over a decade, he has played in the experimental rock band Moon Relay. For coming up on two decades, he has been a collaborator with the Norwegian singer and songwriter Jenny Hval. So it’s fitting that his new record is called Small Lives. It’s full of jazzy, experimental guitar music that lives on the edges of multiple genres, which is also befitting of an artist whose seasoned approach to the guitar is accommodating of a variety of methodologies and traditions. As a whole, it’s a pleasant listen, its moderate dissonance taking on a vaguely ECM feel at times, its guitar playing nodding to folk and rock and drone, its tactile electronics dancing in the corners of the composition. What is the ideal listening environment for this record? Headphones and a couch wouldn’t hurt.
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Gorgeous ambient for all seasons. Individual parts intertwining into an eclectic and bordering-on-cinematic whole. A heartstring tug or two to be found throughout. And a lot of deliciously odd sound design woven in with the usual violins and what not, presented in a way that is anything but (usual, that is).
One of the best groups from the contemporary art music scene in Denmark, Halvcirkel draws Terry Riley and similar aesthetics in their own musical expression. The result is playful and soothing, yet also often daring and unpredictable in the best possible way. This manifests clearly in their recent collaborative album with Anders Lauge Meldgaard, Spirit.