Ensemble Ensemble is a pan-European experimental quintet featuring Norwegian vocalist and electronics player Mari Kvien Brunvoll (of Building Instrument), Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr, Amsterdam-based violinist-violist George Dumitriu (of Kaja Draksler Octet), French hyper-pianist and flutist Eve Risser (who initiated this project, and has played with Myhr in The New Songs quartet), and drummer-percussionist Toma Gouband (who has played with Risser in the Explorations quartet, BMC, 2022). This quintet recorded its debut and only album live at Atelier du Plateau in Paris in June 2018. Although the group continues to perform, it unfortunately has not released updated recordings.
The evocative music was free-improvised and explored the dreamy, complementary resonant timbres of Brunvoll’s celestial-sensual wordless voice, Myhr’s atmospheric guitar lines, Risser’s percussive prepared piano, Dumitriu’s quiet multiphonics, and Gouband’s delicate, spare percussive touches. The music sounds meditative, folky – drawing inspiration from Norwegian and Alsatian traditions, minimalist, chamber, experimental, drone-like, and psychedelic at the same time, all while devoid of familiar history and geography. The five pieces develop slowly through deep listening, seeking their own inner logic, an enigmatic sonic haven, and a fascinating sensibility of suspended time, without attachment to any gesture or motif.
«En Sang om Døden» (A Song about Death) is the only piece that does not use Brunvoll’s instant songs but the lyrics of Norwegian poet and author Dorothe Engelbretsdatter (1634-1716, considered the first Norwegian feminist), and a traditional melody after Johan Hufthammer. Bu Ensemble Ensemble transforms this song into its mysterious, exploratory sound-oriented adventure, with a little bit more drama.
Listening to this album may bring you to a peaceful, colorful, and highly immersive dream-like state of mind, full of sonic wonders.
Eyal Hareuveni
Mari Kvien Brunvoll (voice, electronics), George Dumitriu (violin, viola), Eve Risser (piano, prepared piano, alto flute), Kim Myhr (guitar), Toma Gouband (drums, percussion)
