Svaneborg Kardyb: Over Tage
LP|CD|DL
Out on 4th November
Pre-order from Bandcamp
Drawing on Danish folks, ambient contemplative minimalism and Scandinavian jazz, Svaneborg Kardyb have created an album that’s heat, natural and extremely unique. It’s the proper soundtrack for the season. Louder Than Conflict’s Gordon Rutherford critiques.
There’s something about this time of yr. It’s a interval when the air feels recent, when all of nature’s magnificence is being stripped bare, shedding the heaviness of summer time. Mornings are crisp and the solar is sluggish to rise, giving us the proper time and house to mirror.
Svaneborg Kardyb, individually Nikolaj Svaneborg (Wurlitzer, Juno, piano) and Jonas Kardyb (drums, percussion), hail from part of the world aware of quickly darkening Autumn days. Straight out of Aalborg, in northern Denmark, they create a sound that smacks of Scandinavia. The recording course of for his or her third album, Over Tage, sometimes “began within the earliest of mornings over the blackest of espresso, generally even with out speaking, simply music”. You may inform. Over Tage is the soundtrack to Autumn daybreak.
Launched on Manchester-based Gondwana Information, Over Tage (which interprets as Over Roofs) is described by the duo as their strongest and most sincere file to this point. It’s one which has a number of influences. The duo state that conventional Danish folks performed an element, though I need to confess that I’ve to take their phrase for that. Extra apparent to my untrained ear are the ambient minimalism of the likes of Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds. However what differentiates this assortment is the best way that Svaneborg Kardyb fuse this with a touch of that very Scandinavian-tinged jazz of the late Esbjörn Svensson. Then, into the combo, they throw within the delicacy and class of classical. This skill to fuse genres so skilfully undoubtedly comes from the duo’s respective backgrounds, with Svaneborg coming from Scandinavian jazz and Kardyb from roots, blues and folks. The top product is one thing that bears resemblance to their new label-mates, Portico Quartet. It’s a heat, natural sound that has an unpredictability and appreciable depth that, holistically, makes for an intriguing hear.
Earlier, I spoke about Over Tage being the proper soundtrack to these darker, crisper Autumn mornings. If you need aural proof of what I imply, try the album’s second observe, Fragt. The very first thing that can strike you is the resemblance, within the opening bars, to the glacial aura of Sigur Ros. Svaneborg’s piano notes chime with absolute readability, earlier than Kardyb’s drums enter. Nothing jars, there isn’t a large announcement. Seamlessly, the duo syncopate unobtrusively, becoming collectively like Ye and controversy. Because the music hypnotically swells, it attracts you in deeper and deeper. Area recordings of distant voices might be heard within the background. The skies are lightening, the world is awakening
The introduction of these discipline recordings towards the shut of Fragt trace on the subtlety of Svaneborg Kardyb. Pleasingly, Over Tage is awash with such examples, such because the moody and concrete Ubemaerket. It is a excellent observe, paying homage to Neil Cowley’s latest work, with discipline recordings augmenting Svaneborg’s atmospheric electrical piano. In distinction to a lot of the album, that is the sound of late night time with a ‘nothing extra to do’ vibe. Underpinning all of it is one thing that sounds just like the mechanism of an vintage clock. I consider Ubemaerket in English means ‘unnoticed’. Maybe these sounds that skirt beneath the floor are designed to be unnoticed, subliminal nearly. But, even supposing they exist within the background, they one way or the other dominate the observe in fairly an eerie manner; elevating the observe, making it something however unnoticed.
The album’s jazziest piece, Every thing Attainable, is one other the place the little issues which may initially appear to be positioned within the background really serve to make the observe full. This time, it’s the distant sound of brass. Like a clarion name, they cry out from behind this invisible veil, chopping proper by way of the electronics above. It’s an extremely ingenious composition.
Let’s return to that Autumn daybreak theme. A number of of the tracks on Over Tage, notably on the primary half of the album, resemble this time of yr’s sluggish, however spectacular, sunrises. They develop and unfold intriguingly, beginning minimalistically within the darkness and shutting in wonderful euphoria. One of many album’s excellent tracks, Farvel, is the proper instance. It begins with Svaneborg’s sparse keys choosing out a sorrowful melody. These first sixty seconds brim with melancholy. Discreetly, Kardyb will increase the tempo together with his extremely tight package work and because it attracts to its closing chapter it swings fairly deliciously. It’s not the one occasion, however it’s the finest instance on this album of the best way Svaneborg Kardyb effortlessly glide from shade to gentle.
Album opener, Op, is content material to stay someplace in between. It performs within the shadows, the chiaroscuro. It’s a sublime piece, one with such a complicated really feel, coming into our lives like Cary Grant coming into a celebration. Kardyb beats out a compelling rhythm on the toms while Svaneborg’s electrical piano delivers an beautiful melody. Nevertheless, the last word melody on Over Tage belongs to the gathering’s stand out observe, Blik. It is a tune with such an unbelievable pop sensibility; so catchy that it lives in your head lengthy after you will have heard it. It’s soulful and bluesy, highlighting the duo’s versatility, and people bass notes are simply the icing on a very candy Lagkage.
Over Tage is an uncomplicated album, however don’t take that the unsuitable manner. It jogs my memory of an instrumental Steely Dan, within the respect that it flows and washes over you effortlessly. It’s deliciously heat and pleasant and one can swim in its refined modishness endlessly. However shut listening will reveal that, beneath the floor, there’s a vital quantity of complexity. The way in which the sphere recordings and digital trinkets are woven in is sort of excellent. Moreover, one doesn’t need to be a talented artist to recognise that this duo have unbelievable technical skill. Collectively, they’ve crafted an album that’s each uplifting and thought scary, one filled with beautiful melodies, hypnotic rhythms and stark Nordic atmospheres. Good for these superb Autumn dawns.
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Svaneborg Kardyb might be discovered right here. They’re additionally on Instagram and Fb.
Gondwana Information might be discovered right here. They’re additionally on Fb, Instagram and Twitter.
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All phrases by Gordon Rutherford. Extra writing by Gordon might be present in his archive.
Gordon can be on Twitter as @R11Gordon and has a web site right here: https://thedarkflux.com
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