release date: 20.10.2023 on HUBRO Records
The latest album release by acclaimed Norwegian band Erlend Apneseth Trio is made in collaboration with renowned experimental composer and vocalist Maja Ratkje. Their impromptu concert together in 2022 was a glorious kick-off for a five-day festival and was luckily put on tape. After reworking and reimagining the recorded material with their steady collaborator Jørgen Træen, the result is a refreshing take on improvisations-turned-compositions. Featuring innovative soundscapes with archival material and an engaging transitory state.
The first single, Spor etter Spor (mellom oss), from the album is based around a part of a free improvisation. It has a fragile but playful mood, where alluring melodies grow out of airy textures. The listener is unaware of the text we hear being typed out on the keyboard and typewriter in the beginning, so the song takes on multiple meanings—a kind of guessing game with no wrong answers.
Listening to the album is akin to being on a voyage of discovery, in and out of the dream state. From the very beginning, the listener is met by ancient voices on tape, surrounded by distorted and dispersed sounds. Like stars on a moonless night, the sounds fall in and out of perceptibility, most twinkling, some falling. You suddenly wake up on a speeding train. As it enters a tunnel, ghostly voices sing a lullaby. The music gradually unfolds from mesmerizing melancholia to a ritualistic blowout. The music always takes the route of the unexpected and reaches momentums which shows why this is one of Norway’s most unique constellations.
Orbiting sounds gather around and assemble themselves into scenes, forming uncanny rooms collectively dreamed up by the artists. The album’s first track Tre Vegar follows an enthralling pathway layered with field recordings and intensified by noise, suddenly plunging into a delightful stream of chords fleeting in mid-air.
The variety of sounds that make up this glorious and aptly named ‘Collage’ is astounding. Elemental sounds range from the howling wind and soft-bright ringing of sheep-bells to the timeless trickling of a small stream of water. Strings of many timbres soar over animated croaks and quacks, assembling into a swampy symphony. The well-balanced diversity of acoustic and electric sounds has become the band’s trademark. It is ever-present, complementing and creating new improvisatory trails to follow.
The vocal work is of particular interest and acts as our vessel and guide along the journey, sometimes transforming seamlessly from and into other non-human noises with its chants and intonations.
The meeting with Ratkje has clearly influenced Erlend Apneseth Trio to explore new musical areas, leaning into noise, contemporary classical music, and beyond. It shows how the trio is brimming with the ability and will to continually push themselves into new areas and be curious. It is the reason they have been nominated for a Norwegian Grammy in the “open category” for all their previous four albums, where “Salika, Molika” won and became runner-up for the Nordic Music Prize.
The shifting nature of the work is its most prominent and compelling aspect, as well as an ever-present state of transition that remains unpredictable throughout the journey. Building tensions keeps you on the edge of the experience; even in the most intense moments, sounds are well-spaced and balanced, never collapsing into chaos. The result is a remarkable album beyond genres, where a spontaneous meeting has uncovered the music of our time.
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new album:
Collage
ERLEND APNESETH TRIO with MAJA RATKJE
formats: LP / CD / DL
label: HUBRO
release date: 20th October 2023]
cat. no:. HUBROLP3655 / HUBROCD2655
Tracklist:
1.Tre Vegar
2.Fjernklang
3.Spor etter spor (mellom oss) 04:46
4.Kvi Søve Du
5.Ein annan himmel
6.Fuglane II
7.Atterklang
Line up:
Erlend Apneseth: Hardanger fiddle
Stephan Meidell: baritone acoustic guitar, live sampling, modular synth
Øyvind Hegg-Lunde: acoustic & electronic drums, percussion, timpani
Maja S. K. Ratkje: voice, electronics