Punkt Editions is a new label curated by Jan Bang and Erik Honore. If you have any knowledge of those two names, then you will be expecting sound of a liminal nature that exists between planes with touches of jazz, electronica, ambient and more, but ever sounding like something coming to you from a dream.
For the label’s first release, Jan teams up with synth player Dai Fujikura for eight pieces that also call in favours from fellow travellers and regular collaborators Arve Hendriksen, Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvær amongst others. When this calibre of players is involved, you know that something special is about to unravel.
Mystery in the mist and electronics continually haunt your inner ear, drifting restlessly. Arve’s trumpet is ethereal, hovering maze-like, searching for something. The images are hazy and made only more so when Arve’s voice joins in the search, high and clear, its Gregorian sweetness hollowed and stretched.Slo-mo synths are gauzy, sampled strings move like loose shutters, a wraithlike cloak enveloping us as we drift through an empty factory, ghosts of machinery long since abandoned. A soup of electronic surprises swells over a heartbeat, but Kati Raitinen‘s cello is a precise and secure anchor. Arve’s voice appears again, somehow more physical and the odd gouge gives roots while electronics envelop the voice, gently urging.
Nils’ trumpet changes the mood. Although still depopulated, there is something in the clarity that draws the piece forward, moving you and moving through you. Arve’s tone in comparison is reedier, more wistful and the backing for him is sparser, leaving a greater sense of space through which his tones curl. Drum samples offer a constant flow and orchestral ones fill the air, nutting up against other sounds that drop in at whim, flicking the channel, moving onto something else wary and unsteady.The whole things is gossamer light ,but the layers build up to something cohesive. You could say the same for the whole album and the pieces all sit together in a very satisfying way. As an opening salvo, The Bow Maker sets a high bar and it will be interesting to see what follows.
-Mr Olivetti-
