The Squid's Ear Magazine


Rodrigues, Ernesto / Nuno Torres / Carlos Santos / Stale Liavik Solberg : Soon (Creative Sources)

Norwegian percussionist Stale Liavik Solberg (Gjerstad, VCDC, &c) joins frequent collaborators Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (saxophone), and Carlos Santos (electronics) for a studio album of often pointillistic interaction, Solberg punctuating the unusual voicing and techniques of acoustic and electronic interactions as they permute the word "soon".
 

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Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Ernesto Rodrigues-viola

Nuno Torres-alto saxophone

Carlos Santos-electronics

Stale Liavik Solberg-percussion


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UPC: 5609063404630

Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs463
Squidco Product Code: 24757

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Namouche Studio, in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 6th, 2016, by Joaquim Monte.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"As promised last month, I want to note a few thoughts regarding Soon, another recent Creative Sources album (recorded May 2016 in Lisbon, so not a 2017 recording as some other recent releases are) featuring Ernesto Rodrigues in a quartet with frequent collaborators Nuno Torres & Carlos Santos (here on synth, and doing the mixing & mastering): On Soon the "new person" is Norwegian percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg (b.1979). I had neglected Solberg, so this was a good opportunity to revisit his music, and indeed his creative & subtle playing is highlighted very well by the quartet on Soon. (For instance, Solberg uses fast & precise "clicking" on all of his albums: Perhaps it's a daxophone or something similar? It's a way to inject flurries of different numerical groupings into the ensemble phrasing.)

One thing I quickly realized is that Solberg was the only member of the Hot Four quartet on Eye of the Moose that hadn't appeared again in this space. That was an oversight, but also partly caused by timing: I had only just discovered Creative Sources at the time - and indeed remained intimidated by Ernesto Rodrigues's massive discography, so it took longer to open that box. And I was still sorting through the even more massive output by English free improvisers as a group, and so had relatively little sense of what might interest me in that area. (Whether I have much more sense now probably remains a question, but I feel as though I made a decisive step around Whitewashed with Lines in June 2015 - a relevant comparison to Soon not only because of its stark precision & process orientation, but because of John Butcher's participation: He has a recent duo with Solberg on Clean Feed, So beautiful, it starts to rain, where one does find something of an intersection of these ideas.)

Prior to that, however, Solberg had participated in what seems like a clear precedent for Eye of the Moose, namely a quartet called VCDC with Norwegian singer Stine Janvin Motland (instead of Andreas Backer), plus Frode Gjerstad & Fred Lonberg-Holm. (And Eye of the Moose was then mixed & mastered by Gjerstad.) I should have noticed this group, especially their second album Insult recorded in 2012, but I probably associated both Gjerstad & Lonberg-Holm with more rock-oriented (e.g. Chicago) music at that point: It took me a while to realize just how varied many musicians' outputs are in this field. (Moreover, revisiting some remarks around Kontakte Trio, Solberg had also recorded with Steve Beresford on a couple of albums from 2013, Three Babies & Will it Float?. Kontakte Trio has another similarity with Soon in that it leaves me listening to the environment, and also soon left me eager to hear it again. As for why I didn't notice Beresford sooner? I'm going to answer the same, timing: He released a handful of albums right before I started paying attention - and I regularly revisit questions such as this in order to work on my own attention process.) Anyway, the duo album with Butcher was recorded in 2015, so prior to Soon, and the others are from even earlier in the decade.

Soon is recognizable as a Rodrigues album, particularly with its quiet precision, perhaps reminiscent of a quartet like Nor, but in a variant mode with Santos explicitly playing electronics: Beyond & reacting to the varied percussive shaping, there are high held tones, squeaks, hockets & broader polyphony, bent gong tones, even a sense of breath amid much austerity. There is a timeless yet serious sense, a mood I've sometimes figured as "epic," but here with an ambivalent sense of presence. The (short) last track is downright Scelsian in its eeriness, and some of the intervening interactions remind me of Nashaz (recorded not long prior) for their sense of dissonant lightness & reintegration. The different tracks on Soon, albeit with some overlap, present different moods & processes, with the more polyphonic second & third tracks catching my attention more, but this quartet also makes me revisit concepts of "use" for music in that I found the album to be refreshing & useful as a creative spur for my own work, not to mention as something that brings me into closer contact with the environment (perhaps paradoxically, given the "artificial" sounds). The impact of such use did fade a bit with time, but Solberg has my attention now."-Tod McComb, Jazz Thoughts


Get additional information at Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Artist Biographies

"He has been playing the violin for 30 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and improvised music, live and in the studio.

His main interest shifted towards contemporary improvised and composed music.

The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and textural elements.

Electronic music was an early influence on his approach to violin playing, which challenges traditional romantic concepts of the violin/viola through use of preparations and micro tuning.

Active in different settings on the Portuguese scene for free improvised music, both as a collaborator and in leading his own groups.

Music for Dance, Cinema, Video and Performance.

Has created the record label Creative Sources Recordings in 1999, which mainly concentrates on releasing experimental and electro-acoustic music."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/creative_artists.html)
4/2/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Studied alto saxophone within a jazz tradition spectrum. His continuous solo experimental research explores a wide scope of sound material through the use of the extended technics. Participates in several ensembles of improvisational music, electro acoustics and reductionism. Collaborates with musicians such as, Ernesto Rodrigues, Ricardo Jacinto, Sei Miguel, Fala Mariam, João Castro Pinto, Rafael Toral, Manuel Mota, David Stackenäs, Travassos, Paulo Raposo, Carlos Santos, Shiori Usui, C. Spencer Yeh, Cyril Bondi and d'incise, and developed projects as CACTO and PinkDraft, In the recent years has been also collaborating in several different projects at the intersection of the performative areas of dance, theatre and the visual arts (PARQUE, Les Voisins, Eye Height, Adriana Sá, Beatriz Cantinho). Participates and curates experimental and community radio initiatives."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/artists/n_torres.html)
4/2/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Studied painting with António Sena (Ar.Co, 1988 -1992), worked in advertising for a period of time, but nowadays works as graphic designer in corporate identity, packaging, web and audio-video production.

Started sound/music activities in 1989 when formed the VITRIOL project with Paulo Raposo, a laboratory for experimental sound actions, in a first stage with studio work followed in 1994 by live output, mainly live electronics, concrete music with a improvised or graphic score oriented approach. Uses the laptop with software written in MaxMsp, small resonant objects, microphones and piezo elements to produce a music that deals with space and its sound characteristics. Interests in "soundscape" and field recordings are a huge part of his work, for piece preparation or just for archival purposes, Always recording, events, spaces or music. Multi-channel acusmatic music and radio pieces.

Presents himself solo in site-specific audio-video works, or in duos with João Silva (video, sound, photography), "Inhabitaded Spaces" with Ricardo Guerreiro (computer, mics), "Venús Pistolletto" with Emídio Buchinho (elec. guitar, mics, objects) and trios with Ernesto Rodrigues (violin) and Guilherme Rodrigues (cello) or ZNGR electroacustic trio with Carlos "Zíngaro and Emídio Buchinho. Member of several formations, "(Des)Integração" laptop ensemble (2001-2003) or in more electroacoustic sets, uses live-electronics and sampling which is the case of "Suspensão" septep, VGO, variable geometry orchestra and specially a trio close related to the "near silence" aesthetics, with Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, harp) and Guilherme Rodrigues (cello) with already several CD releases, always with at least one international improviser guest. Presented his work in Portugal, Spain, France, UK and Germany. Worked with artists from several media: dance, performance and video. Music and sound design for video and animation. Video and sound editing for comercial projects. Played live or in recording projects throughout the years with a lot of musician and sound artists. His sound work is documented in several CD releases. Belongs to the Granular board of directors, a portuguese association for experimental art and does the image of Creative Sources label. Broadcasts "Boca Doce" show at Rádio Zero (web) and other special shows. Workshops and seminars in digital audio manipulation, Maxmsp programming and sound art practise."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/creative_artists.html)
4/2/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Solberg holds a Masters degree in improvisation at the Norwegian Academy of Music and has since worked in the Norwegian and European improvisation scene, u. a. with Øystein Eldøy, Frode Gjerstad, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Eivind Lønning, Stine Janvin Motland, David Stackenäs, Joe Williamson and Per Zanussi in the formations Hot Four, Motsol, S / S Motsol and VCDC. He also played in a duo with John Russell and in a trio with Steve Beresford and Martin Kitchen, 2014 in trio with Alan Silva and Mette Rasmussen . With Paal Nilssen-Love, he organized the Blow Out! Festival in Oslo. [3] Solberg lives in Oslo."

-Wikipedia DE (translated) (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/StŒle_Liavik_Solberg)
4/2/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Soon 7:53

2. Oosn 8:58

3. Onso 8:17

4. Nsoo 5:16

5. Osno 4:33

6. Noos 7:54

Related Categories of Interest:


Creative Sources
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Quartet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Creative Sources.


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