SEKSTETT: Gjerstad, Skaset, Grenager. Tatfjord, Molstad, Moe [Conrad Sound]

SEKSTETT

Frode Gjerstad - clarinets

Havard Skaset - guitars

Lene Grenager - cello

Hild Sofie Tafjord - french horn

Borre Molstad - tuba

Guro Skullsnes More - double bass

Conrad Sound 2010

A very intriguing release, with unusually big line-up playing minimalistic music which poses many questions about the limits of music, nature of sound and group interaction. Through 5 untitled fragments they create a wonderfully shape-shifting amalgam of sounds, timbres, reverbs.

Music without music really, a magmatic mixture within each occasional structures appear, rhythms created out of electric guitar feedback or sounds of breathing through brass instruments, gentle harmonies realising themselves out of nowhere just to dissapear quickly as if they were never there in a first place.

It's fascinating to look in this sonic reality for something that we could associate with something concrete and familiar, and it is surprisingly refreshing to not find it - without anything close to a common rhythm or melody or a solo statement (incredibly democratic ensemble playing) this is something of a sound equivalent of a Rorscharch images. Immensely creative, taking all the liberties and leaving those liberties to the listener as he tries to follow through and shape via personal perception the cloudy mist of whispering, scraping, boiling, bubbling and everything else really. Playing with texture, resonance, feedback, silence, making the terms like 'strange', 'weird' or 'normal' irrevelant.

Discreet charm of parallel universe, where sounds can create all the realities you can imagine. Inspiring, intriguing in its uniqueness.