Kim Myhr and the un-conventions, permutations, artful inhalations of "VI"

 

photo by Maciej Moskwa

Music that doesn't seem to follow the very formulaic shapes of most genres of music is kind of like one of the homes you see from whimsical architects, they stand against convention, a radically curved wall may not be good for the placement of furniture but it is good for the soul. "VI" is a new major work from Oslo guitarist/composer Kim Myhr, written for the 15-piece Stavanger-based ensemble Kitchen Orchestra and the chosen appetizer for a stunning double album entitled "Hereafter" due to drop on February 23, 2024. Myhr has penned, imagined all the tracks conceptualized by himself and the Kitchen Orchestra. 

Like one of those sort of upside down houses, "VI" (to me) feels like a sonic city erected by sometimes opposing structures of sound. I can literally feel the landscapes as I float aimlessly through them. I can see the oddly colored subway cars that shift to monorail systems. I can see the undulating buildings that might be living breathing constructions that allow people inside as the structures microbiome. There are droning sounds that fall like electronic rain and there are dramatic drums / percussion like flying machines.

LINER NOTES about "VI":

“Hereafter can be seen as a meditation on mortality and transience,” Myhr explains. “It was written at a time when the prime minister of Norway told the country’s population that ‘you have to be prepared to lose someone dear to you’. It was like taken out of Tarkovsky’s 'Sacrifice'. This atmosphere set the tone for Hereafter, which was written in 2020. For me, this piece is about the acknowledging and acceptance of disaster.”

[During the months of composing the music, Myhr kept humming the song sung by Salamat Ali Khan in Satyajit Ray’s classic film Jalsaghar, in the scene where the son and wife of the main character die in a storm. For Myhr, the song resonated with the mood of the moment and acted like an undercurrent for the making of Hereafter. “There is a haunting sadness to that song, but there’s also something very grounded about it. The way the singer looks straight at the protagonist. There is no escaping this. That was the feeling.”]

SOFA is proud to mark its 100th release with the stunningly beautiful double album Hereafter, a new major work from guitarist/composer Kim Myhr, written for the 15-piece Stavanger-based ensemble Kitchen Orchestra. Hereafter will be released on February 23 as a gatefold double LP, CD, and DL with a beautiful cover photo by Eleonore Huisse and Myhr shared "VI" to announce the album. "VI" is receiving early airplay from dublab.

-Robb Donker Curtius

   

+ _ +

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://sofamusic.bandcamp.com/album/hereafter

https://open.spotify.com/track/5sGytxR9BKfaQbot8RSpIu

https://soundcloud.com/kimmyhrofficial/up-to-the-sun-shall-go-your

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OK-Sto5p2o

https://www.kimmyhr.com/


Norwegian guitarist and composer Kim Myhr has been touring internationally since the early 2000s and has released several records under his own name. His album You | me (2017) was nominated to Nordic Music Prize, and received wide acclaim internationally. As a composer he has made music for Australian Art Orchestra, Canadian string quartet Quatuor Bozzini, Kitchen Orchestra and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra of Norway, and has collaborated with Jenny Hval (on the 2012 collaborative album “In The End His Voice Will Be The Sound Of Paper”, Tony Buck of The Necks (on the album “You | me”), Lasse Marhaug, Christian Wallumrød, poet Caroline Bergvall and many others. He has toured extensively the last fifteen years across Europe, Americas, Asia, and Australia. His last record Vesper with Australian Art Orchestra was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy in 2020 in the contemporary category. 
 “Kim Myhr is a master of slow-morphing rhythms and sun-dappled textures that seem to glow from the inside”. - The Guardian

Kim Myhr, guitarist, composer, Oslo Norway, new project, new album, 15-piece ensemble Kitchen Orchestra, Stavanger-based, New album "Hereafter",