Splashgirl: Arbor
Andreas Løwe: piano, acoustic guitar a.o.
Jo Berger Myhre: doublebass, zither a.o.
Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød: drums, percussion a.o.
Guests:
Anders Hofstad Sørås: pedal steel guitar
Lasse Passage: conventional acoustic guitar, voice, tape
HUBROCD2500
CD 7033662043057
Release: January 2010
”Splashgirl was an exciting discovery and one of Punkt 08's best shows,
ranking as the surprise of the year— and not just at the festival (...)
Splashgirl is a group that deserves a wider audience and, if it can get some
proper exposure, no doubt will.”
Allaboutjazz.com
Second album from youngsters Splashgirl see them re-inventing
themselves from a piano trio in the European jazz tradition to a
”band” in a more boundry-less musical landscape some place
between ambient, experimental rock, jazz, and contemporary
music. It is still improvised acoustic music, but it definetely sounds
quite different.
The music on ”Arbor” takes a more minimalistic and defined collective
approach where the use of long, sustained sounds binds together a broad
palette of string- and percussion-instruments. The band mentions Eric Satie,
Earth, Morton Feldman, and Oren Ambarchi as important references.
Repetition and duration play a major role on ”Arbor” as the music unfolds
slowly and leaves a lot of room for a focus on details. ”Patience is bliss” states
bass player Jo Berger Myhre.
Splashgirl play improvised music that doesn´t sound improvised. This time
they wanted to have a more collective approach to the music, and by
improvising they have found sounds and song-ideas that they have developed
further during the recording sessions.
”Arbor” also features contributions by pedal steel guitarist Anders Hofstad
Sørås, and singer/songwriter/soundartist Lasse Passage, two musicians with
whom Splashgirl have been working closely with the last couple of years.
Splashgirl was formed in 2004 on an initiative from pianist Andreas Stensland
Løwe. He, Jo Berger Myhre and Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød had known each
other since highschool, and had played together in several other bands. Their
debut album “Doors. Keys” on AimSoundCity was released in 2007 to rave
reviews.
”Arbor” was recorded in an old tree house called Biermannsgården in Oslo,
and mixed by Ingar Hunskaar before pre-mastered to analogue tape by Lasse
Passage.
Cover artwork by Yokoland
Andreas Løwe – piano, acoustic guitar a.o.
(b. 1983) Andreas composes most of the music for Splashgirl as well as for
Post, Fym! and the other bands he play either piano, synths or electronics
with. Andreas has written commisioned music for different occasions.
Jo Berger Myhre – doublebass, zither a.o.
(b. 1984) Jo has lately become quite a sought-after bassplayer and is
performing regularly around Europe with musicians from all of the Nordic
countries, in bands like Laser, Meshes of Voice, Blokk 5, Ingrid Olava and
Solveig Slettahjell Slow Motion Quintet.
Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød – drums, percussion a.o.
(b. 1982) Andreas has since long been touring Europe with the spectacular
medieval theatregroup Stella Polaris. He plays with Jo in alt-rockband Blokk
5 and with Løwe in postrock-act Lama.