OYSTEIN BLIX - Conditions
Losen LOS156-2
Oystein Blix: trombone; Kristian Svalestad Olsad: guitar, electronics; Aleksander Kostopoulous: drums, electronics; Mimas Male Choir
Recorded Kysten Studio and Kroken Kirke, Tromso, June 24th – 27th 2015
Describing this set as a meeting of trombone and male voice choir, while factually accurate, does little to convey the haunting, spectral quality of the compositions on this CD. In part this is down to the effects applied to Blix’s trombone, which give a ghostly sound that floats over the massed voices of the choir, and in part this is down to the use of electronics by Olsad and Kostopoulous. The choir moves from what sounds like Gregorian chant or plainsong, to almost operatic fullness, to full-blown bickering, which creates a dramatic soundscape against which the trombone, guitar and drums work a variety of sounds. When the choir is silent, hectic drums patterns that wouldn’t be out of place in drums-and-bass sets, propel the pieces, and Blix rides across these with effortless ease. At times the mix gives the feel of dub reggae, with deep basslines (although there is no bass player here, so one assumes that this is coming from the guitar and the electronics). In several places I was reminded of the work of Bill Laswell and his experiments in dub and electronica.
The whole piece was originally composed for the Northern Lights festival in Tromso in 2013. The libretto is ‘a commentary on the struggle that artists and cultural institutions in Italy must endure during these hard financial and political times’. While this might sound a little parochial (don’t artists in other countries face similar struggles? are these struggles solely down to the financial and political times?), the pieces themselves have a universality that can speak across a range of musical genres and across continents. The singing of the choir is powerful and beautifully fitted to the development of the pieces and to Blix’s fine trombone playing.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen LOS156-2
Oystein Blix: trombone; Kristian Svalestad Olsad: guitar, electronics; Aleksander Kostopoulous: drums, electronics; Mimas Male Choir
Recorded Kysten Studio and Kroken Kirke, Tromso, June 24th – 27th 2015
Describing this set as a meeting of trombone and male voice choir, while factually accurate, does little to convey the haunting, spectral quality of the compositions on this CD. In part this is down to the effects applied to Blix’s trombone, which give a ghostly sound that floats over the massed voices of the choir, and in part this is down to the use of electronics by Olsad and Kostopoulous. The choir moves from what sounds like Gregorian chant or plainsong, to almost operatic fullness, to full-blown bickering, which creates a dramatic soundscape against which the trombone, guitar and drums work a variety of sounds. When the choir is silent, hectic drums patterns that wouldn’t be out of place in drums-and-bass sets, propel the pieces, and Blix rides across these with effortless ease. At times the mix gives the feel of dub reggae, with deep basslines (although there is no bass player here, so one assumes that this is coming from the guitar and the electronics). In several places I was reminded of the work of Bill Laswell and his experiments in dub and electronica.
The whole piece was originally composed for the Northern Lights festival in Tromso in 2013. The libretto is ‘a commentary on the struggle that artists and cultural institutions in Italy must endure during these hard financial and political times’. While this might sound a little parochial (don’t artists in other countries face similar struggles? are these struggles solely down to the financial and political times?), the pieces themselves have a universality that can speak across a range of musical genres and across continents. The singing of the choir is powerful and beautifully fitted to the development of the pieces and to Blix’s fine trombone playing.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
