VOICE & STRINGS & TIMPANI
Commission for Nattjazz festival, May 2016.
Released on Hubro, November 2020.
Received the Edvard prize in 2021.
Voice & Strings & Timpani is the latest project of the duo Strings & Timpani, consisting of guitarist Stephan Meidell and drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde. The project came to life as a commission for the Nattjazz festival in 2016 and was released as a record on Hubro in November 2020.
Mari Kvien Brunvoll – vocals, electronics
Eva Pfitzenmaier – vocals, keys, recorder
Stein Urheim – guitar, electronics, langeleik
Stephan Meidell – guitar, electronics, synth
Kim Åge Furuhaug – drums, percussion
Øyvind Hegg-Lunde – drums, percussion, synth
All music written by Stephan Meidell &
Øyvind Hegg-Lunde.
Booking: oyvind6888@hotmail.com
photos by Francesco Saggio
Stephan Meidell and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde aka Strings & Timpani are two of the most important figures in the new wave of Norwegian music. They are also staples of the Hubro roster of artists and of the vibrant Bergen experimental music scene.
Voice & Strings & Timpani was recorded partly at a live performance at Bergen’s Nattjazz festival in 2016, and partly at Broen Studio in Bergen – where it was also mixed – in 2020. The album has absolutely total attention to sonic detail and while the music is sufficiently
sophisticated to nod knowingly to any number of disparate styles or references, it remains sharply focused and contemporary throughout.
Stephan Meidell says,
“the idea for this project was to write music for us together with friends and colleagues in Bergen, musicians who inspire us and are a part of the same milieu that has some of the same attitudes towards music-making: what I like to call a communal approach to play. The sum of the music that comes out is the essential part; making music together, not impressing through individual virtuosic skills in the traditional sense. We do still strongly believe in the individual voices, but it’s the totality of those voices together that is most important to us. This is at the core of our music-making, and especially for this project. I and Øyvind stand firmly as the founders and composers of the project and the music, but at the same time, we want each individual voice to be heard. It’s tricky but worth the effort in the end.”
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“the idea for this project was to write music for us together with friends and colleagues in Bergen, musicians who inspire us and are a part of the same milieu that has some of the same attitudes towards music-making: what I like to call a communal approach to play. The sum of the music that comes out is the essential part; making music together, not impressing through individual virtuosic skills in the traditional sense. We do still strongly believe in the individual voices, but it’s the totality of those voices together that is most important to us. This is at the core of our music-making, and especially for this project. I and Øyvind stand firmly as the founders and composers of the project and the music, but at the same time, we want each individual voice to be heard. It’s tricky but worth the effort in the end.”
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Review of the record on ballade.no (in Norwegian)
photo by Linn Heidi Stokkedal