in brief
10.05.2022

Ekstasens flygtighed

Croatian Amor: »Remember Rainbow Bridge«
© PR
© PR

Remember Rainbow Bridge oser af savn. Man vil nok med forholdsvis sikkerhed kunne postulere, at i hvert fald størstedelen af dette album må være blevet skabt under coronavirussens langvarige åg. Det mærkes. Klassiske Croatian Amor-grundpiller er stadig til stede, men på nærværende udgivelse er de parret med en langt mere klubbet, poppet lyd, end denne lytter er vant til.

Simple men effektive synthmotiver kombineres med deciderede technobeats. Analoge instrumenter og samples. Spøgelsesstemmer, der det ene øjeblik beretter om ekstasens flygtighed, og det andet blot sukker længselsfuldt. En form for post-faktum-stemning hersker. Det er som om, det er musik til efter, noget er sket. Mindemusik. Musik, man sætter på på vej hjem midt om natten fra en eller anden fest – stadig begejstret over begivenheden, men også tilsnigende trist over dens afslutning. Høj på livet og bare udkørt. En bittersød melankoli.

En gang imellem savner jeg lidt mere bitterhed og lidt mindre sødme. Albummets lyddesign er utroligt veludført, og mens det i sig selv utvivlsomt skal regnes for noget positivt, så har det samtidig den slagside, at jeg godt kan komme til at sukke efter noget mere grus i maskineriet. Når det er sagt, så er jeg taknemmelig for, at Rahbek til stadighed stikker til de forudindtagede holdninger til, hvordan et Croatian Amor-album kan lyde. Remember Rainbow Bridge er således en værdig tilføjelse til hans mangefacetterede diskografi.

© PR

»Music, to me, is … the silence that gropes – like yourself – across a black canvas.
In moments, a hissing emerges.
Nuts are cracked.«

Jørgen Teller has a long career as an electric guitarist, vocalist, electronic musician, and performer. He has released records solo as Static Teller and with Jørgen Teller & The Empty Stairs, Kaptajn Ørentvist … He frequently collaborates with local and international musicians.

© Lou Mouw

»For me, music is a non-figurative process that cannot be definitively categorised.«

Kristoffer Raasted graduated as a visual artist from the Media School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2018 and is currently completing a PhD in practice-based and artistic research. Raasted has been an artist in residence at the Danish Institute in Rome and a visiting researcher at UdK Sound Studies in Berlin as part of his PhD.

© Iain Forbes

»When I search for new music, I search for sound that evokes images in my mind. It is fuel, a gateway to emotion, and my most important writing companion. When inspiration lapses, music is the tool that always jumpstarts it.«

Iain Forbes is a Scottish/Norwegian film director based in Oslo. He has studied film directing at Nordland College of Art and Film and the Norwegian Film School. His graduation film Revisited won a Student Academy Award in 2023. He has previously directed short films such as Snowman (2015) and Semper Fi (2017). His latest short After Dark won Best International Short Film at the Oscar-qualifying Foyle Film Festival in 2024

Nikolaj Nørlund. © Agnete Schlichtkrull

»Music, to me, is a companion through life, a premise, an excuse, a mystery, an explanation, a point of departure. It is old ideas, overlooked treasure chests, new angles, long concerts, doubt and conviction. It is words, tones, cracked voices, different points of departure, bass in the diaphragm, falsetto in the hair, challenges, rewards, and love.«

Nikolaj Nørlund made his solo debut with Navnløs (1996), an interpretation of poems by Michael Strunge, and released Nye Optagelser (1997) the following year, his first Danish-language singer-songwriter album. He has since worked broadly across music and poetry and is behind around 20 releases, both solo and in various band constellations. Nørlund’s projects range from collaborations with Copenhagen Phil on two orchestral albums, created together with author Naja Marie Aidt. His most recent release is the single »Englenes Park (nu ikke saa dark)«, the forerunner to the album Himlen skiftet ud, due for release at the end of November. In addition to his own work, Nørlund has, through the record label Auditorium, produced and released a number of Danish artists, including Niels Skousen, Ulige Numre, Jens Unmack, I Got You On Tape, and Martin Ryum. He was previously a member of Trains And Boats And Planes and periodically works with the English-language project Rhonda Harris. Nørlund has received a Danish Music Award (2003) and a Steppeulv (2006), both as Producer of the Year, as well as the Niels Mathiassen Cultural Award (2012).

© Mari Liis

»Music and sound for me is a language, the most present and fleeting one. It’s something that passes through your heart and becomes the past in a second. Music amplifies every emotion, love, happiness, anger, sadness a thousand times over, making me feel everything more deeply and sensitively.«

Sophia Sagaradze is a sound artist, composer, and performer from Georgia, based in Denmark. She experiments with space, multichannel electronics and audio-visual installations. Sagaradze is interested in creating works that explore the boundary between external and internal experiences of space. She holds a bachelor’s degree in classical composition from Tbilisi State Conservatory and a master’s degree in electronic composition from DIEM Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg. In 2022, she received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation’s Talent Award in Composition. Sagaradze has performed in several countries, received commissioned works for ensembles, performed live and created audio-visual installations. She is a founder and artistic director of Aarhus Sound Association (Aarhus Lydforening), Project leader at ROSA  and a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg.