Mille Feuille was recorded during three days at Flerbruket, an old school builiding at Hemnes which now is a workplace for artists of all sorts. OWL (Signe Emmeluth & Karl Bjorå) worked here together with sound technician Magnus Nergaard with recordings that later would turn into the duo’s debut album.
The music is the result of a couple of years working with different ideas of improvisation and composition. Both musicians have their opinions on how much or little control you bring into the music, or in what way you choose to react to the other, and in what tempo reactions and interactions should occur. All these elements affect how a piece is experienced, and how it progresses. Uncontrolled elements and surprising changes can both interrupt and co-exist with already established motives. Working with both controlled and uncontrolled impulses at the same time gives the music a depth and feeling of intense focus. The album title Mille Feuille, named after the French cake, translates to “a thousand layers”, which became a common thread in the artistic process.
Karl Bjorå and Signe Emmeluth are musicians and composers residing in Oslo. They work in the field of improvised and contemporary music, but take part in a wide range of projects within this framework, in groups such as Megalodon Collective, Yes Deer, Mudskipper and Emmeluth’s Amoeba. They both studied jazz and improvised music at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim, and were an important part of the young and vital music scene while living there.
Since 2012 they’ve toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan and USA, and have collaborated with established musicians such as Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, Balazs Pandi, Alan Wilkinson and many more.
credits
released April 4, 2020
Recorded by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard at Flerbruket, Hemnes, October 2018
Mastered by Markus Schmikler
Supported by Norsk Komponistforening
Every Thumbscrew album is an event. Not only are they three masterful musicians, but the way they play together and off each other also gives their music a seemless quality that shouldn't be obtainable with music this complex. PDD
It is amazing that the sax-bass-drums combination still has so much new to say, but this album is the proof. I knew of Signe Emmeluth from her great solo album. It's a wonderful experience to hear her working with an equally skilled rhythm section. arbitify
Composer and bass player Håkon Thelin aims to cut to the essence of the double bass by focusing on technique with these contemporary pieces. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2023