CnRd329
The Touchables
Artist: The Touchables
Album title: Svart/Hvitt
Label: ConradSound
Catalog number: CnRd329
Release: 4th September 2020
Formats and pricing:
- CD digipak from €6
- Double vinyl from €15
Shipping:
-From Norway to Norway
- From Slovenia to EU and rest of the world
Press
Svart/Hvitt or Black/White as it translates into English, is the second release from the Norwegian contemporary music group The Touchables. Whereas the first release was focusing on the “extreme extremes” with octobass and piccolettio violin, Svart/Hvitt focuses on deeper meditations on low frequencies and the thick textures of the full chamber orchestra.
The fundament in the composition Svart/Hvitt is etudes and exercises made by Guro S. Moe mixed with microtonal instructions from Ole-Henrik Moe. The piece explores the phenomenon of “comprovisaition”, which means “somewhere between composition and improvisation”. Finding different ways to instruct, make notations, give food to thoughts, which can end in a fruitful piece of music. The work Svart/Hvitt therefore tries to enter a very sensitive area, where musicians must always be highly active listeners, as well as creative co-composers.
“Svart/Hvitt” was commissioned and premiered for Only Connect in Oslo in 2015, and was the debut for the ensemble and their octobass.
Artist bio
The Touchables started as a chamber orchestra with the goal to explore the combinations of instruments that Ole-Henrik Moe and Guro Skumsnes Moe felt deserved more recognition and needed to be heard more in the field of new music. “Svart/Hvitt” is the first release with the full chamber orchestra. The instrumentation in The Touchables is constantly evolving and the orchestra is always searching for undiscovered land and collaborates with several other composers that soon will be heard on new releases. Legendary Japanese noise artist´s composition ”Dots Kinematics” will be released in 2021.
About the composers:
Guro Skumsnes Moe: Guro S. Moe is a Norwegian bass player and composer, born in 1983. Skumsnes Moe has over the years been one of Norways most productive composers and active musicians crossing the borders of contemporary music, rock, noise and improvisation. Her rock band MoE has toured just about every corner of the world, and her acoustic noise ensemble Sult has more than any pushed acoustic textural music to the limits. Skumsnes Moe has scored for the Mexican director Amat Escalantes movie ‘The Untamed“, written music to several plays by the French puppet theater Plexus Polaire, and composed for Norwegian vocal group Oslo 14. Ole-Henrik Moe: Ole-Herik Moe is a Norwegian composer and violinist born in 1966. He studied composition and violin in Oslo and Paris and also took classes with Iannis Xenakis. He has composed chamber and orchestra music, performed at concerts and been featured in radio and television broadcasts in Norway and abroad. He has contributed both as composer and performer to a number of “crossover” projects with Norwegian rock band Motorpsycho and electronica pioneers Todd Terje and Andre Bratten among others. Ole-Henrik Moe is a renowned improviser and has participated in theatre productions and modern dance performances. His works have been performed at festivals such as Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Ultima, and by ensembles like Arditti Quartet and many others.
Credits
Hanne Rekdal – Flute, basson
Gjertrud Pedersen – Bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet
Ole-Henrik Moe – Bass trombone, piccoletto violin, viola, cello
Martin Taxt – Microtonal tuba
Laura Marie Rueslåtten – Handbells
Ane Marthe Sørlien Holen – Bass drum, percussion
Kari Rønnekleiv – Violin, viola, cello
Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard – Double bass
Guro Skumsnes Moe – Octobass
Recording - Kai Andersen
Mix - Dag Erik Johansen
Cover design - Lasse Marhaug
