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5



2001; rune grammofon; RCD 2018
released 14.05.01

5.1 / 5.2 / 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5

produced by deathprod at audio virus lab
recorded and mastered by audun strype
all selections by supersilent
sleeve by kim hiorthøy
p + c 2001 rune grammofon as
supported by fund for performing artists
distributed and marketed by ecm records

all selections are recorded direct to dat on the following locations
purcell room, queen elisabeth hall, london 16.11.00
i.t.c. teatro di san lazzaro, bologna 26.09.00
kulturkirken jakob, oslo 08.10.00
blå, oslo 07.02.99

2005; bomba records; BOM 24053
released 23.10.05

5.1 / 5.2 / 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5

note:
japanese edition; gatefold paper sleeve.

note by rune grammofon:

Producer and member Helge Sten (Deathprod) went through some 30 hours of live recordings to come up with this 70 minute collection, including selections from Oslo, London and Bologna. Mostly a calmer, more reflective side of Supersilent that those familiar with their concerts might have experienced. As always an utterly thrilling experience in the art of improvised soundcreation and even more difficult to define than before.

note by ecm:

Norway's Supersilent are now widely acknowledged as one of the most challenging improvising bands to have emerged from the Far North in many years. Their fifth disc, culled by producer and live electronics man Deathprod from live gigs in Norway, Italy and England, is no less uncompromising than Supersilent's studio albums, yet its sounds are also uncommonly attractive. There is an elegiac quality to much of this music; it seems to propose a raw, electronic lyricism. "Dangerously unpredictable...Their music unfurls in unexpected ways, sometimes logically, sometimes illogically, but always commanding attention" - Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise

english press release:

Even the name is both a found object and, somehow, also in a rock tradition. Much as the members of the Buffalo Springfield, 30 years earlier, took their name from a steamroller parked on a West Hollywood street, so four Norwegian improvisers snapped to attention when a truck with the word "Supersilent" on it rumbled through Oslo in the late 1990s. Aha, a sign! Supersilent haven't named anything else since, neither the self-invented genre they play in, nor their albums or tracks. We're up to album # 5 now although this is actually only their third release, the first being "Supersilent 1-3", a triple album. The names of the players do not appear on the cover of "5". This is Supersilent music, collective work, group improvising, and not a matter of individual grandstanding. Affiliated, certainly, with European free music, it is also at some distance from it. A generational thing, perhaps - the members of Supersilent are still in their 20s; they have amassed different experiences. 

About the music they play together they remain taciturn, even by the tight-lipped standards of the Far North. They don't rehearse, don't discuss the music, don't socialize together, meeting only to play concerts or to record. Supersilent music lives in the no-man's-land between the genres, somewhere between "Arctic ambient" music, rock, electronic music, jazz, modern composition, musique concrete, and raw and bloody noise.

The group was formed four years ago when an existing improvising trio, Veslefrekk, came together with producer/sound manipulator Helge Sten (aka Deathprod) for a concert at the Bergen Jazz Festival in 1997. Since then, they haven't  looked back. Writing in UK magazine Jazzwise, Stuart Nicholson recently observed that "Supersilent is dangerously unpredicatble. Their music unfurls in unexpected ways, sometimes logically, sometimes illogically but always commanding attention."

The material in this instance avoids the head-on confrontational aspects of the group's live presentation, even though the selections are from concert recordings. Perhaps the quietest of their releases "5" proposes a raw, electronic lyricism.

Helge Sten: "This album has indeed a different atmosphere, which I think is nice. These tracks represent music we have played the last couple of years and I find it a very relevant contrast to the more hardcore noise-blasts we often deal with. However, it does not represent a change in style. It represents only one side of many of this band. The pieces were recorded direct to DAT from the PA mixing desk at various concerts in 1999 and 2000. We do not think of it as a live album though, since we have a similar approach to the music in the studio. The greatest difference from a studio session is that the music often is one 2 hour piece at our concerts, which makes it hard to edit the material into shorter pieces. Otherwise the process is very similar. Since we record every concert we do, we will also compile a box-set of live recordings at some future point."

Sten is credited with playing "audio virus" in Supersilent, his catch-all term for instrumentation "made up of home made electronics - old tape machines, ring modulators, filters, theremins, samplers and so on."

All four Supersilent members have worked in diverse contexts with ECM associated players. Keyboardist Ståle Storløkken is a member of Terje Rypdal's "Skywards" ensemble. Trumpeter Arve Henriksen was heard recently on "Different Rivers" by Trygve Seim and has also recorded with Christian Wallumrød for ECM. Drummer Jarle Vespestad has played with Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Balke and Tore Brunborg amongst others. Helge Sten has collaborated in concert with the Cikada Ensemble.

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