Bilayer is the Norwegian experimental duo of trumpeter and live electronics player Hilde Marie Holsen, whose sonic aesthetics has a palpable link with natural elements, minerals, or primitive forms of life that must be preserved, and analog synthesizer player Magnus Bugge, who is also sound artist who works with visual installations and takes part in projects at the intersection of art and science. For him, music does not replace the subject, it lights it up. Bilayer has been working since 2015 and describes its music as «a story where one does not know the origin of its sonic elements». The duo released its debut self-titled in 2019 (Va Fongool).
The sophomore album of Bilayer, Illrie (snowstorm in the dialect west coast of Norway), is with Scottish, Oslo-based experimental violist-violinist Sarah-Jane Summers, whose field of study revolves around understanding and extending the timbral complexity of the fiddle, and her work aims at «creat(ing) radically new perspectives on familiar sounds” of traditional music, including of the Hardinger violin, and contemporary music. Illrie was recorded at keyboard player Morten Qvenild’s Ugla Lyd studio in Nesodden by Summers’ partner, guitarist Juhani Silvola.
Illrie interweaves the distinct musical languages of Holsen, Bugge, and Summers and suggests eight mysterious and poetic pieces, titled after old dialect words from the west coast of Norway, where both Holsen and Bugge are from. These pieces used the raw material of planned improvisations and improvised compositions and put them together in the post-production process of Bugge and Holden, where Holden’s processed trumpet, Bugge’s synthetic sound design, and Summers’ ethereal multiphonics blend into one, suggestive sonic entity.
These delicate, atmospheric pieces float, blossom, and then decompose in imaginative-cinematic territories and create their own natural sonic ecosystem, where elements of local and far folk music, minimalist electronic music, and contemporary music exist organically side by side. The tasking, the supposedly ingenuine process of creating these highly detailed pieces enriches the timeless sounds, images, and memories of nature, and asks the listeners to sharpen their awareness of nature’s infinite and inspiring sonic qualities.
Eyal Hareuveni
Sarah-Jane Summers (viola, violin), Hilde Marie Holsen (trumpet, electronics), Magnus Bugge (synthesizers)
