Karl Bjorå
WHIMSICAL GIANT
Photo: Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø
Whimsical giant is Karl Bjorå’s second album on Øra
Release: 19. november 2021
“Norwegian jazz is in a golden age. Skilled young musicians revitalize history, open up new impulses and create good material. It’s almost a habit to listen to interesting new releases. That’s how it is to be pampered”
"Whimsical Giant" by Karl Bjorå is an album that covers diverse musical ground, a determined wanderer in search of the beautiful, the unusual and unexpected, but above all, the authentic and the truthful.
The musical textures are distinct, almost tactile in their clarity, weaving together elements of jazz and ambient improvisation with accents of Americana, Nordic folk, whispers of rock and post-rock, fleeting glimpses of classicism, and even echoes of hymnal reverence. The instrumentation creates a consistently organic feeling, as though the music has spontaneously grown from a crack in a stone or atop still waters. Even the choices of synthesiser sounds, for example, adhere to the overall resinous, woody and reedy sound.
“One of the most exciting and versatile guitarists on stage is undoubtedly Karl Bjorå, who masters most styles, especially the one named himself”
Experimental aspects are embedded deeply within the fabric of the compositions, so fully integrated that they appear as the only means by which the music could have been created. At no point is the musicality sacrificed on an altar of showmanship, but instead these less conventional techniques and sounds become powerful catalysts for expression and improvisational direction. The compositions effortlessly duck and weave, and ebb and flow through their respective soundscapes, alternating between rhythmic and harmonic complexity and simplicity as required. Each piece has its own drama to unfold, its own character, its own personal dogma. Swells and crescendos, brisk transitions between grandeur and quiet humility, dense atmospheres open from, or into, airy open spaces. Tensions build and release. Indeed, the "whimsical" of the title track points to the unifying principles of mercurial exploration, capricious invention, and endless destabilization of expectation that govern the whole project. The album feels like a fully-formed whole, where the disparity of sounds, the various rhythms, the multiple approaches to harmonic development, the structural evolutions and improvisations all coalesce into a uniquely identifiable singular form. It is an album that is courting the notion of its very own genre.
Musicians:
Karl Bjorå - guitar and compositions
Johanne Flottorp - Hardanger Fiddle & Voice
Lars Horntveth - Pedal Steel Guitar & Bass Clarinet
Signe Emmeluth - Alto Saxophone & Voice
Alf Hulbækmo - Harmonium
Anja Lauvdal - Piano, Synthesizer & Voice
Bárður Reinert Poulsen - double bass
Andreas Winther - drums
“The last piece «Odd Outro» obeys the versatile and diverse vision of this album, and suggests a strange kind of Nordic folky drone, capturing the essence of this beautiful album, an album that is courting the notion of its very own genre.”
PRODUCTION // OF 181
Recorded in Studio Paradiso by Marcus Forsgren
Produced by Karl Bjorå & Lars Horntveth
Mixed by Johan Lindström / Mastered by Karl Klaseie in Øra Mastering
Album photo by Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø / Cover design by Kristoffer Hylland