Mari Line - 21 Days - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jörg Birkenkötter's music reveals something like a breakdown or pulverization of form, including the overall formal design. All the same, this breakdown of form also brings about a new florescence of musical shapes that have not yet hardened into convention, or at least have nothing discernibly conventional about them. At this state of formal open-endedness, the chosen material is, as Birkenkötter himself once put it, compositionally sounded out.

Sometimes, a change of view can transform a person's world. The Natural Lines, the artist formerly known as Matt Pond PA, takes a huge leap forward in his measured song-craft, melodic immediacy, collaborative detail and wryly questioning lyrics on this gorgeous album of intimate reflections from a relocated, renamed, revivified talent. Matt hasn't been quiet since 2017's Still Summer. A re-sequenced reissue of 2015's The State Of Gold in 2020, along with EPs and soundtracks kept him busy, and The Natural Lines was not a project to be rushed. Recorded with close collaborators and friends over a period that saw Pond make vital adjustments to his life, it's stealth emergence reflects his desire to set a fresh pace for himself and come from somewhere new, somewhere more open. Now based in Kingston, New York, with his partner and wild dog Willa, Matt explains the album's gestation thus. InchIt was something different from the start. I wanted to write as purely as I could. Instead of getting stuck in the 'tour, write an album, an album, tour' cycle, which is not a natural way of writing or living, I wanted to write an album and when it was done I wanted to make sure it was done. I didn't want this feeling of, 'Oh, we didn't have time', or, 'I don't know whether I believe in the songs but it's coming out anyway.' I used to be always racing to the finish line, but I'm not anymore. Once I took control of my mind, I could see what I wanted to say more clearly. Instead of random floods of mania and panic, I felt like I was composed and composing. It has become as simple as reading the words of a sentence in the right order. As small as the pause before I hit 'send'.Inch A development, you might say, conducted along the most natural of lines.Inch

For more than 30 years, Sami-Norwegian folk pioneer Mari Boine has captivated fans with her eclectic mixture of indigenous culture with folk and world music. The singer does not only fulfill a pioneering role when it comes to music, but also when it comes to the fight of preserving the culture of the Norwegian Sami people and the natural world. The earth is our mother, and if she is harmed, we are harming ourselves. This message lies at the core of Mari's legendary album Gula Gula, which will be re-released through By Norse in December 2023. Originally, Gula Gula was released on the tag that Mari Boine founded with her former husband. The album was then discovered by Peter Gabriel and released worldwide on his tag Real World Records, introducing the folk artist to international audiences, who welcomed her with open arms. With Gula Gula won Mari her first Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy Award) in 1989. For this exclusive re-issue, the original recording tapes from 1989 were located and two previously unreleased tracks from the Gula Gula studio sessions were discovered. The original producer TellefKvifte mixed the two songs. The authentic producer notes have been included in this edition and the artwork has been re-envisioned by the original designer MadlaHruza.