Andersen,Arild / Sommer,Daniel / Luft,Rob - As Time Passes - VINYL LP

Dark Spring is an opera about four young people under extreme pressure the pressure to overachieve academically, to score high in the popularity contests at school or at college, and to perform romantically or sexually. The pressure has become entirely internalized as parents or teachers are absent and the protagonists are left alone with late capitalism's demands of permanent self-optimization. The conflict between the expectation to succeed on the one hand and the sense of powerlessness and unattainable self-determination in an era of constant stagnation on the other hand grows increasingly acute until it eventually flips into violence into Melchior's sexual aggression and Moritz suicide. The opera focuses less on the narration of the four young protagonists' story but rather on their attempt to articulate and understand the often contradictory feelings that come with it Feelings of meaninglessness and alienation in a society that values only productivity and success but makes it unreachable for almost everyone; feelings of pain both as suffering and as sexual experience; feelings of love and kinship that briefly appear between the protagonists that nevertheless bring a sense of vulnerability. In a hyper-competitive world the display of emotions is seen as a weakness and a liability. The longing to open up to someone else, to reveal and feel oneself and one another, and to find an expression for that longing seems unsettling and dangerous. The four protagonists of Dark Spring sing songs. They articulate their feelings through the mask of the distancing formalization of rhyme, meter, stanza, and refrain. Under the surface of the objectified schemata of song an almost raw and undomesticated sound-world simmers, though, that breaks through at crucial points of the plot - a sound-world of noise, screams, and silence.

Composed in memory of the wife who passed away. The Danish composer, pianist and leading jazz improvisator Thomas Clausen has composed some of the most intimate and tender songs in the memory of his wife and mother to his soprano daughter Nina Clausen and the result is this new album where they together perform a selection of songs. According to Gyldendals The Great Danish Encyclopedia InchA Danish jazz pianist and composer, influenced by jazz and contemporary European scored music, who has been an integral part of the European jazz scene since the beginning of the 1980s. He is greatly appreciated for his work both as a solo pianist, as trio ensemble leader and for his work accompanying prominent American musicians. As a composer for big ensembles, he has created works that suggest Alban Berg as a big inspiration.Inch

Daniel Sommer & Arve Henriksen & Johannes Lundberg - Sound & Sequences Danish drummer Daniel Sommer proudly presents the second installment of his critically acclaimed Nordic Trilogy. Danish drummer Daniel Sommer proudly presents the second installment of his critically acclaimed Nordic Trilogy, a project aiming to capture and document Nordic improvisation and composition across three carefully curated ensembles. Featuring Swedish bassist Johannes Lundberg and Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen, 'Sounds & Sequences' is set to on April Records. A followup to 'As Time Passes' featuring Sommer alongside UK guitarist Rob Luft and Norwegian ECM bassist Arild Andersen, the project develops as Sommer says, Inchnot to try to make the same kind of music three times in a row, but rather to shed light on Nordic improvisation today from various angles and perspectives.Inch With a focus on vulnerability, intuition, and the dialogue between electronic and acoustic sounds, 'Sounds & Sequences' offers a striking contrast in aesthetic and mood to the previous record, tied together by a shared sense of refined musical literacy, poetic sensitivity and open-hearted exploration. Drawing inspiration from chamber music, spiritual jazz, and electronic and ambient music, the trio made several visits to Studio Epidemin in Gothenburg several times between March 2022 and December 2023, recording music with no set goals or briefs. Faced with a large volume of recordings, the group then set about compiling their free improvisations into a cohesive statement with form, narrative and direction. InchWe simply improvised, listened, discussed, and improvised again until something emerged.Inch With the interactive, spacious, and dynamic sound of live trio performances at it's core, bowed upright bass harmonics, Henriksen's lamenting trumpet melodies, and Sommer's grooving, textural approach to the kit