Dear friends
Covid-19 is dangerously impacting the social-economic category of musicians. No concerts, poor political and social consideration, uncertain earnings. As a consequence, an ever-growing number of musicians, especially those from the experimental area, are trying to promote their music on BandCamp in digital format only. It is increasingly difficult for me to follow and review this incredible flow of music. I therefore decided to open this section on my blog Neuguitars where I propose music in digital format that I consider particularly interesting and worthy of attention. I hope you like it. Let’s support musicians. They need it.
Andrea Aguzzi
DARK STAR SAFARI Walk Through Lightly by Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset, Samuel Rohrer, John Derek Bishop, Arjunamusic Records, 2021
Dark Star Safari is a musical entity comprised of Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset, Samuel Rohrer and John Derek Bishop. Their second full-length offering Walk Through Lightly is the first to feature all five musicians together in the studio from the outset, making for a more organic refinement upon their already established methodology: gradually sculpting distinct songs out of collective improvisations, or using the raw material from initial recordings as the basis for more carefully articulated compositions. The final mix is one that invites few stylistic comparisons to other musical peers, and in fact few comparisons to existing genres. Though this second offering from the project is frosted over with a Scandinavian sense of spatiality and melancholy, it’s best listened to without considering any origin points, geographic or otherwise: from the opening moments of “Walk Through Lightly,” listeners will feel as if teleported directly into the middle of an enigmatic film-in-progress.
Given the sense of foreboding, anticipation, and even unease that these kinds of subjects often bring with them, the spare and un-hurried music is all the more intriguing, especially when the eponymous finale arrives and the percolating sound bed seems to hint at a coming resolution, but then leaves the listener with more questions than answers. By competently fusing a mature, economical approach to sincerely romantic lyrical themes, Walk Through Lightly is a rare accomplishment.
credits
released September 24, 2021
Jan Bang – vocals, live sampling, samples,
ac. piano,
Erik Honoré – synthesizer, samples, synth bass,
voice, lyrics
Eivind Aarset – guitar, electronics, bass
John Derek Bishop – live sampling, bass, treatments
Samuel Rohrer – drums, percussion, electronics, modular synths
Guest appearances: Vilde&Inga: double bass, violin on PATRIA,
Arve Henriksen: trumpet on INVOCATION,
Emanuel Birkeland-Bang:
drum programming & Inge Breistein: saxophone on PASSOVER
Produced by Dark Star Safari
Recorded in October 2019 at Candybomber Studio Berlin by Ingo Krauss. Additional recordings and post production in 2020 at Punkt Studio Kristiansand, The Green Room and home studios in Oslo, Stavanger and Berlin. Mixed by Erik Honoré in Oslo in January and February 2021. Mastered by Mike Grinser, Manmade Mastering Berlin.
Copyright control (TONO/SUISA)
Worldwide Distribution: Word & Sound
© arjunamusic.com 2021 – electronic series
D&DA The Designers Republic, Ian Anderson
NeuGuitars 