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2LP
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HUBRO 3520LP
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Gatefold double LP version. Limited edition 180 gram audiophile pressing (45 RPM).
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CD
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HUBRO 2520CD
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On Field Day Rituals, the doom piano trio Splashgirl exceeds the high expectations that have been building up since the release of the group's album Pressure in 2011. That album was described as "an instant classic" by Uncut and "a triumphant artistic exercise" by Jazzwise, and won a place on a number of "year's best" lists. With their fourth album, Field Day Rituals, the group is taking yet another giant step up and forward. The album is detail-rich, dramatic, full of atmosphere and massive, despite the sometimes viscous and reserved quality of the music. The players themselves describe the music on the album as "lighter and more optimistic than on the previous album," although the soundscape remains so bass-heavy that the average kitchen radio will be under threat of extinction. Here Splashgirl refines its personal idiom, although at the same time the influences of post-rock, classical music and, not least, jazz are even more apparent this time around. The album was recorded in the course of two intense weeks at Avast Studio in Seattle, together with engineer and producer Randall Dunn (Akron/Family, Black Mountain, Sun City Girls, Boris, Kinski, Sunn O))) and Earth). This recording marks the first time the trio has given a producer the authority to take decisions on behalf of the band. "We found that Randall evoked qualities in the music that we ourselves had overlooked. He has an impressively broad musical perspective, and heard the music from angles that were often totally new for us. He got us to play some of the music as though it were classical jazz, which we haven't done for a long time. Randall inspired us to take a favorable look at jazz again." Violist Eyvind Kang (Beck, John Zorn, Marc Ribot) plays on three tracks, and Timothy Mason's subtle modular synths are a welcome surprise in several places on the album. Andreas Stensland Løwe (piano and keyboards), Jo Berger Myhre (double bass), Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød (drums and percussion), Eyvind Kang (viola), and Timothy Mason (modular synth).
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CD
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HUBRO 2509CD
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Splashgirl is one of the most exciting young instrumental bands to come out of Norway in recent years. With Pressure, their third album and certainly their strongest to date, the band is taking yet another giant step forward. Here, the musicians are opening the doors to several new musical rooms -- to the dark, dank cellar as well as to the attic -- where all their forgotten memories are stored away. Splashgirl's second album, Arbor (HUBRO 2500CD), was Hubro's very first release in 2009. The group's course of development from its 2007 debut, Doors. Keys derived inspiration from Paul Bley's jazz piano recordings. The band's foundation remains acoustic: Andreas Stensland Løwe, piano (Thelma & Clyde, Lama, Jæ), Jo Berger Myhre (Ingrid Olava, Solveig Slettahjell), double bass and Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød (Sacred Harp, Lama), drums. On this album there are some outstanding guest appearances by guitarist Juhani Silvola (Sacred Harp), vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll, tuba player Martin Taxt (Jæ, Hanne Hukkelberg), trombonist Erik Johannesen (Jaga Jazzist) and Lasse Passage with field recordings and tape feedback. The musical dynamics on Pressure have a broad scope, but as on Arbor, the members of the trio also work with some simple analog electronics. Modest and lyrical, the album ranges from gloomy prophecies of doom that flow onwards like hot tar to ethereal minimalism. The opening track, "Devata," would have been perfect as film music for a Western based in the Antarctic. In any case, what is most striking this time is the enormous sense of concentration and the impressive focus on subtle details that are an integral part of Splashgirl's music. The album was recorded by Alex Kloster-Jensen at Malabar Studio in Oslo, and was mixed by Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Jesse Sykes) at Aleph Studios, Seattle.
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LP
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HUBRO 3509LP
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LP version. Splashgirl is one of the most exciting young instrumental bands to come out of Norway in recent years. With Pressure, their third album and certainly their strongest to date, the band is taking yet another giant step forward. Here, the musicians are opening the doors to several new musical rooms -- to the dark, dank cellar as well as to the attic -- where all their forgotten memories are stored away. Splashgirl's second album, Arbor (HUBRO 2500CD), was Hubro's very first release in 2009. The group's course of development from its 2007 debut, Doors. Keys derived inspiration from Paul Bley's jazz piano recordings. The band's foundation remains acoustic: Andreas Stensland Løwe, piano (Thelma & Clyde, Lama, Jæ), Jo Berger Myhre (Ingrid Olava, Solveig Slettahjell), double bass and Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød (Sacred Harp, Lama), drums. On this album there are some outstanding guest appearances by guitarist Juhani Silvola (Sacred Harp), vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll, tuba player Martin Taxt (Jæ, Hanne Hukkelberg), trombonist Erik Johannesen (Jaga Jazzist) and Lasse Passage with field recordings and tape feedback. The musical dynamics on Pressure have a broad scope, but as on Arbor, the members of the trio also work with some simple analog electronics. Modest and lyrical, the album ranges from gloomy prophecies of doom that flow onwards like hot tar to ethereal minimalism. The opening track, "Devata," would have been perfect as film music for a Western based in the Antarctic. In any case, what is most striking this time is the enormous sense of concentration and the impressive focus on subtle details that are an integral part of Splashgirl's music. The album was recorded by Alex Kloster-Jensen at Malabar Studio in Oslo, and was mixed by Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Jesse Sykes) at Aleph Studios, Seattle.
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CD
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HUBRO 2500CD
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The second album from young Norwegians Splashgirl see them re-inventing themselves from a piano trio in the European jazz tradition to a "band" in a more boundary-less musical landscape someplace between ambient, experimental rock, jazz, and contemporary music. It is still improvised acoustic music, but it definitely 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. 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/sound artist Lasse Passage, two musicians with whom Splashgirl have been working closely with for some time now. 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 high school, and had played together in several other bands. Arbor was recorded in an old tree house called Biermannsgården in Oslo, and mixed by Ingar Hunskaar before pre-mastered to analog tape by Lasse Passage.
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