Norwegian, Bergen-based in-demand recording engineer, producer and composer Jørgen Træen (aka Sir Dupermann) and guitarist, string magician and composer Stein Urheim have been working closely on the last fifteen years. Træen recorded, mixed, mastered, and co-produced Urheim’s solo projects and his duo with vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll on the Hubro label.

Træen and Urheim, who shared a love for the American instrument maker Harry Partch and electronic music pioneers such as Raymond Scott and Delia Derbyshire, released their first duo album, Krympende klode (Shrinking Globe, Hubro, 2021), where they presented their imaginative, kaleidoscopic, and playful electroacoustic universe. The album was awarded the prestigious Edvard Prize.

Galant Galakse (Galant Galaxy) expands and enriches Træen and Urheim’s thought-provoking and beautifully strange sonic universe with many acoustic string instruments from around the world, and analog electronic music. The album offers two extended pieces, «Pønskepause» (Brain Break) and «Urpust» (Relaxation, with legendary American guitarist Henry Kaiser), where Træen and Urheim experiment with dramatic, often cinematic soundscapes, with countless surprising sonic inventions. The music often suggests a psychedelic, consciousness-expanding experience that keeps navigating in and out of exotic folk, blues, and spacey landscapes, and feels urgent, restless, and often unsettling on «Pønskepause», but Kaiser introduces a relaxed, sensual vibe of Hawaiian slack guitar on «Urpust».

Eyal Hareuveni

Jørgen Træen (modular and analog synthesizers, electronics, percussion, field recordings, vocal sounds, prepared piano, audio programming, guitars, bass, cello), Stein Urheim (guitars, samples, electronics, field recordings, harmonicas, flutes, bass, percussion, vocal sounds, prepared piano, tamboura, just intonation sine-tone generator, pocket trumpet), Henry Kaiser (electric guitar)