Well…that does it. All my life I’ve been told that it doesn’t actually constitute “playing” an instrument if you aren’t formally learning and openly admit to having no idea what you’re doing, but that clearly isn’t the case if you delve into a plethora of actual musician’s backgrounds! For example, rumor has it that Miles Davis attended all of his mentoring sessions with Charlie Parker wearing those glasses that look like eyes as he inconspicuously caught up on his sleep; and Erik Skodvin’s first album as Svarte Greiner, Knive, was apparently recorded without a lick of knowledge of how to play the guitar or cello, despite both featuring somewhat prominently! (You wouldn’t necessarily guess at Skodvin’s instrumental unfamiliarity after listening to the release, either, because digital audio workstations and the usually packaged effects make all things possible now. And OF COURSE, Knive itself turned out to be a landmark release in the so-called “dark ambient” sub-genre!)
Type Records did the honors for the initial release back in 2006, and now Skodvin’s own Miasmah label (yeah, dude’s got a record label too) is taking the sponsorship reins for the first LP reissue, out on October 6.
But WAIT. there’s MORE: The reissue was announced in conjunction is the impending release of Apart, a “mini-album of cello improvisations” conceived during a week-long stay in Bern, Switzerland for the Rebirth Festival in 2015. I’m not sure if Skodvin’s upped his formal skills since the release of Knive, but an interview from 2015 explicitly attests otherwise. Like, does it even matter!?
Ugh. Okay. Details. Apart will be released under the Svarte Greiner moniker as well on October 6. Here’s the pre-order link for Knive, and here’s one for Apart. ALSO, listen to the opening track from Knive below (as a refresher), followed by “Passage” from Apart. Whew. Give us regular guys a break, Skodvin!
Knive tracklisting:
01. The Boat Was My Friend
02. Ocean Out Of Wood
03. My Feet, Over There
04. Easy On The Bones
05. An Ordinary Hike
06. The Black Dress
07. Ullsokk
08. The Dining Table
09. Final Sleep
Apart tracklisting:
01. Revival
02. Apart
03. Second
04. Passage
05. Separate
06. Floor
07. Barren