Feed

The second single from the “Movements I” album is out now!

It’s called Taktstok, and it’s the final track on the B-side on the album. This single version comes in a slightly edited form, though, to better work as a standalone track.

From the beginning, I knew that the album would be split into two distinct parts with their own modes and their own clear purpose. On vinyl they obviously will become the A-side and the B-side, and I composed them with quite different energies in mind.

The A-side is intentionally softer and often operates in cyclical and round patterns that return to themselves, with a nurturing quality that stays close to the ground. I wanted the music there to be rooted, patient and connected to the feet/grounding.

The B-side, on the other hand, was written to be sharper and more outward. It’s fire, expression, hips instead, sex and passion. It’s more angular and commanding and more “masculine” somehow, with energy that pushes forward rather than spirals inward.

Taktstok was always meant to live fully in this B-side space. It’s bombastic and pathos-driven, with a Eastern European/klezmer-infused vibe at its core. There are big brass moments, heavy drums, and a physicality that unapologetically carries the piece with its momentum.

This was one (alongside Aelva, the first single, which you can read about here) of the earliest compositions for the album. For quite a long time it was having a drawer-life and was a track that I kept returning to once in while, before settling on the main theme. The riff circles around the dominant chord: D major in the harmonic minor mode of G minor, and I knew from the start that I wanted a second theme where that constant dominant tension would finally resolve.

To fuel the drive, there’s also a 3-against-4 feel happening between the Ewe drums and the mandolin in the accompanying layer, so when the resolving B-part lands in G minor, that rhythmic ambiguity dissolves into heavy, angular hits. Every beat in the bar is punctuated. It gives that part an extra push, almost like releasing a spring with your rhythm stick.

Right up until the recording sessions, the final form was still evolving, and I hadn’t decided exactly where it would sit on the B-side. But as the pieces fell into place, it was clear this would end the album.

The C-part - the solo/choir-sing-along - came late in the writing process. And when it became clear that it will end the album, the very last addition was came into being: the accelerando section leading into the slightly chaotic 7/8 outburst. That moment became the bridge into the beginning of the second part of the Movements trilogy, which will most likely kick off in a hectic chaos mode. But more about that later.

For now, Taktstok is out. It has muscle, dance, pathos, and bombast, with Nordic flair - a bit like salmiak-infused salty liquorice on a bed of raspberry ice cream.

You’re welcome.

Listen to it here:

Or on your preferred streaming platform: https://bfan.link/taktstok

Hey,

We hope you're enjoying the summer!

We just found some old demos and wanted to share one that never got on an album. This one was inspired by the vibe in Ishøj, a suburb to Copenhagen where Henrik taught young people to play saxophone and clarinet. And thus, it was named Ishøj Afro.

On another note, remember to buy your tickets for our show at VEGA performing our latest work, CARRIER, together with Århus Sinfonietta and Maya SB on visuals

Tickets!

Enjoy!

On September 14th, SVIN & Århus Sinfonietta will perform SVINs latest work, CARRIER.
Maya SB will create visuals and light design for the 60 minutes long performance featuring a 19 people orchestra.

Carrier is about what we can’t always put into words, about those transitional periods in life where love becomes both a burden and a power.

With improvisation as its focal point and a visual universe that reflects the movements of the music, SVIN, Århus Sinfonietta and visual artist Maya SB create a work where the boundaries between genres, emotions and form dissolve. A concert that is not only to be heard, but felt in the body, in the heart and in the darkness behind the eyes.

Come see and hear for yourself.

Store VEGA • September 14th.

Get your tix now!

What an experience it was playing at Roskilde Festival two weeks ago.

We were asked to come play at Roskilde two days in advance, because of an unfortunate canecllatin by another band.

Pictures by Jens Raadal.

Vi har været i studiet og har optaget denne fine og stripped-down version af Om Hjørner. 

Instrumentalt har vi kogt nummeret ned, så vi havde mulighed for at spille den live kun os to. Det vil sige, at nummeret udgøres af et trommebeat, som Steffen har produceret på forhånd vha. sin sampler (billede), elektrisk guitar (billede), et upright klaver (billede) og vokal (billede).  

Normalt for os foregår vores studieoptagelser i mange små bidder. Først én vokal, så en anden. Så et guitarriff og så en underliggende synthlyd - indtil alle optagelser er der. I denne studiesession gav vi os selv en anden udfordring: En lang optagelse og alle elementer på samme tid.

Vi føler, at vi som musikere er mere til stede på den måde, fordi vi skal koncentrere os hele sangen igennem. Laver vi lidt for mange fejl er vi nødt til at tage det hele om. Det gør også, at flowet bliver anderledes, fordi vi allerede tænker over den næste del af sangen, imens vi spiller en anden. 

Vi er ret vilde med den måde at optage på, og vi håber, at I kan lide den alternative version af Om Hjørner!

Kh Drømmer Om

Welcome to my page here on Sleeve. I’ll be sharing thoughts, essays, and side notes on music, sound, and culture — the things I keep circling back to when I’m supposed to be working on other stuff. To start with, I would like to say something about listening.

There’s this idea I’ve borrowed from the New Zealand musicologist Christopher Small. In his book Musicking, he poses the thought that music isn’t something we just listen to — it’s something we do. Even listening, when you’re really listening, is an active thing. You’re participating. You’re musicking.

But most of us have learned to treat music like a non-participatory product. Someone performs, we sit and consume. Politely. Quietly. And then there’s 'the voice shame' — the Norwegians even have a word for it: Stemmeskam. The sense that your voice doesn’t belong. Maybe someone told you, casually, once, that you couldn’t sing. So, you refrain from humming along with your favourite music while you're on the train for the fear that someone heard you. We need to deal with that and start telling children that they can sing, and that they have every right in the world to use their voice no matter how it sounds.

Meanwhile, music itself has often become a thing related to technological perfection: Autotuned, algorithm-fitted, X-Factor tight. No room for error. No room for us. I think that’s a loss. I would like to write about that loss here — about listening, about voice shame, about why music should be something we do, not just consume.

Thanks for being here. Tell me — do you sing? And if not, why?

'Gårdsangeren', a painting by Robert Storm-Petersen.