After the recent wide-ranging collaboration with Mari Kvein Brunvoll and Moskus, the adventures of Stein Urheim continue unabated with Speilstillevariasjoner, this time choosing to experiment with alternative tunings on fretless guitars and taking inspiration from Chinese gu qin and Norwegian folk.
Always searching for intriguing collaborators, Stein has hooked up with electronic legend Ikue Mori as well as Hans Jorstad on violin, Siv Øyunn Kjenstad on percussion and Sam Gendel on sax and more electronics for a suite of tracks that take loose guitar meanderings and merge them with percussive textures and electronic elements for something pretty out of the ordinary.
In most of the songs the sound of the guitar is rather otherworldly. At times the tone sounds like something you would hear while walking on a Waikiki beach, but in an alternate reality, while the percussive pressures and textural details flutter like bird song and give everything an open, sun-kissed feel — but it is not necessarily our sun. Strange tunings, whimsical scales, the sound of finger on strings; it feels as though Stein is really enjoying himself, showing us a whole other way of appreciating the guitar.
Ikue and Sam’s electronics and Stein’s field recordings really open up the soundscapes. The feeling of being outdoors, the sense of limitless space under a chill blue sky with the subtle shimmer of percussion pervading all the songs. The addition of Hans’s violin lends some tracks a folkier sensation and also prompts a joyful dance when it isn’t sharply streaking that blue sky.Meanwhile, each strum of the guitar seems to sound a little different from before, as if the tunings and modifications are pushing further outward. Siv’s subtle percussion also changes from track to track, with some given more momentum than others. Just to add to the feeling of disorientation, there are moments of sheer abstraction where the instruments turn feral and the guitar dips and dives like a wounded bird.
Where Hans’s violin is given the lead, so it renders a playful, semi-classical air, a sense of inescapable yearning bundled into a two-minute treat. We jump around from thought to thought and there are sections where Stein’s guitar takes us on a John Fahey-esque journey, his finger-style introducing elements that are at first familiar but, when entwined with the ghost of a pedal steel, find us descending into a liminal void. In other places the guitar sounds like a zither, but the feeling of joy in the experimentation is always tangible.
Towards the end, the sun seems to shine a little brighter; distorted, echoing distant harmonics swirl like specks of gold, Siv’s warm, wordless vocals shimmering in the light. They are vibrant and surprising and merge with strange bubbling sounds that slop like mud. A bizarre segue leads into a trippy rhythmic whirlpool with guitars like train whistles and all players throwing curveballs that gradually dissipate, finishing in a sleepy, satisfied stretch in the warm afterglow. Any tension is eased right out with us left feeling refreshed and ready to continue.Sadly there is no more for us, but the journey is an absolute delight and one that demands further exploration to fully immerse ourselves in this unique soundworld.
-Mr Olivetti-
