If you want to reduce his decades-long body of work to a simple metaphorical image, you can think of trumpeter Arve Henriksen as “a man with two faces.” The first face appears in the group Supersilent, where its “job” is to sit atop the body that serves as one third of a genre-eluding improvisational trio which recently showcased its noisier side to gleeful American fans who might’ve been expecting musical sparseness for their first in-person encounter. The second face, meanwhile, looks like it just received a mainline dose of morphine, because on the albums that are reasonably considered Henriksen’s solo efforts (Strjon and Cartography, to highlight two semi-recent examples), voice, trumpet, and other instruments aren’t confusing the hell out of you by virtue of their deliberate discord. Instead, they’re relaxing. Like: “I’m overlooking a Norweigian fjord as the sun begins to set”-relaxing. Ahhhhh.
Towards Language is Henriksen’s newest “solo” effort, out June 16 on Rune Grammofon, although collaborators Jan Bang and Erik Honoré are duly credited for their assistance. Those two first helped out on the 2004 album Chiaroscuro, and in a note accompanying the announcement of Towards Language, Henriksen makes sure to acknowledge the “musicians and producers that have encouraged and inspired” him over the years.
The music on this new one supposedly has a connection to Places of Worship, though a typical studio (probably not an un-holy place for someone like Henriksen, mind you) served as the typical setting for this “chamber music-like approach.” Either way, pre-order the sacred results here, and check out the divine “Groundswell” down below:
Towards Language tracklisting:
01. Patient Zero
02. Groundswell
03. Towards Language
04. Demarcation Line
05. Transitory
06. Hibernal
07. Realign
08. Vivification
09. Paridae
More about: Arve Henriksen, Supersilent
