Description
Svartsymra is an avant-garde exploration of sound and musical boundaries by the experimental contemporary ensemble KRISE, led by Kristian Enkerud Lien. The ensemble ventures into new territories by blending just intonation, microtonality, rock club vibes, and Norwegian folk music in an innovative way, resulting in a fascinating and engaging listening experience. Through experimentation with ideas from Ben Johnston, Harry Partch, and Eivind Groven, they aim to promote a more complex yet captivating musical journey.
The album consists of six parts: Diapuls/fluxus serves as an introduction, presenting four chords, each with specific tunings where the voice leading and melody remain the same, growing or withering into a section where the individuality of instruments merges into a landscape of sine waves. Nekrotek portrays a septimal death club. Der ergeh stig og olieh flyg is partly a solo piece for fretless acoustic guitar and partly a free improvisation accompanied by a cassette player. 161182038 is a deconstructed and reconstructed gangar, a Norwegian folk dance. Den der, red, ned is a solo piece for a self-built just intonation guitar, transitioning into something reminiscent of a bagpipe synth. The album concludes with a brief groove, Vurg, featuring a melody that brings the ancient instrument, lur, to mind.
Svartsymra is a construct, it can be something that grows and withers at the same time. This concept is reflected on the cover art, depicting a stone or a lung, a classical order, and a comedy amidst a tangle of lichens. It is also a nod to Groven’s recordings on “Som symra rein og blå” and death.