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The Squid's Ear Magazine

Durrant, Phil / Emil Karlsen
Grain

Durrant, Phil / Emil Karlsen: Grain (Noumenon)

A wonderfully assertive acoustic dialog between London improviser Phil Durrant on mandolin and octave mandolin, and Norwegian percussionist living in Leeds, UK, Emil Karlsen, the two focusing on a quick flow of ideas that ebb and flow naturally, each complementing the other in tightly defined interactions, creating a consistent sound of rapid texture and impetus.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Phil Durrant-mandolin, octave mandoline

Emil Karlsen-percussion


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Label: Noumenon
Catalog ID: N005
Squidco Product Code: 28680

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Ilektrik, at the Hundred Years Gallery, in London, UK, by Isa Ferri and Paul Skinner.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The album features two sets recorded at IKLECTIK and Hundred Years Gallery. Both improvisations explore a music of momentary resonances and sonic alignments, eschewing grand statements in favour of allowing small ideas time to breathe. Brief gestures give the musicians space to interpolate and expand on the vocabulary of the other, creating a collective virtuosity where each uses their instrument to take on the characteristic of the other's and way it is being played.

This deliberately non-hierarchical structure foregrounds a fluctuating flow between the individual and collective identities at play, creating a vibrational interaction between fragments of sound."-noumenon

"Subtle discombobulation, so nuanced that it causes the neck to crane towards the output source. The duo of Durrant and Karlsen tickle the senses with their abstract language, broken and flowing."-TJ Norris/Toneshift.net


Artist Biographies

"Phil Durrant. Born 1957; software synth/sampler, live electronics and acoustic violin.

Phil Durrant studied classical violin and piano at the London College Of Music. Since 1977 he has been a freelance musician, improviser and composer. He has performed at festivals all over Europe, U.S.A and Canada and has had his music broadcast on radio and television in many countries.

Current electronic projects include Ticklish, Secret Measures (with John Butcher), Lunge (with Gail Brand, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders) and the international electronic orchestra, Mimeo. He also plays violin in Assumed Possibilities (with Chris Burn, Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell), "Beinhaltung", a trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn another trio with Berlin musicians, Burkhard Beins and Ignaz Schick, and the string quartet Quatuor Accorde, with Tony Wren, Charlotte Hug and Mark Wastell. Durrant has also played in the very influential trio with John Butcher and John Russell, as well as the Chris Burn Ensemble.

During his career he has played with many creative and important musicians, including: Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Grooverider, Shut up and Dance, John Zorn, Phil Minton, and Tom Cora. He has also been awarded various Arts Council grants to research and develop his use of electronics. Two current duo projects - at early 2001 - were: Durrant, violin and software synth/sampler with Wade Matthews, bass clarinet, alto flute; and Durrant software synth/sampler with Mark Sanders drums and sequenced samples.

Phil Durrant has also been collaborating and composing music for a wide variety of choreographers. These include PLastic chill, In the face of a stranger and Deja deux with Maxine Doyle; Salome, Concrete and On stage with Susanne Thomas; Partial site, near view and Delay for five with Gill Clarke; Future perfekt with Ana Sanchez-Colberg; and Borderlander and Home zone with Sophia Lycouris. Salome, Concrete and Partial site, near view were site-specific and involved speaker systems in a number of different rooms. He recently wrote the music for a new play by Nick Sutton called Home movies."

-European Free Improv (EFI) (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdurrant.html)
1/27/2025

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

"Emil Karlsen is a Norwegian improvising drummer currently based in the UK. Described as a "significant addition to the UK free jazz scene" and an "exceptional improv drummer", he's establishing himself on the improvised music circuit working the span from free improvisation to free jazz. Occupied with the exploring timbral possibilities of the drum kit, he performs with Philipp Wachsmann, Matthew Bourne, Phil Durrant, Maggie Nicols, Ed Jones, and the London Improvisers Orchestra to mention some."

-Emil Karlsen Website (https://emilkarlsen.com/)
1/27/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. Untitled 24:22

2. Untitled 20:21

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Stringed Instruments
Percussion & Drums
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Noumenon.

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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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