Heart Sight is the third solo album of Norwegian, Oslo-based experimental guitarist-composer Magnus Skaug, following Pipe and Drum (Playdate, 2022) and Anthems Vol. 1 (Øra Fonogram, 2021). Unlike his previous solo albums, This album is a DIY work. Skaug (who plays in the art pop band Caramel 11) plays here alone on guitars, double bass, and electronics and he uses his voice as an additional instrument and focuses more on production and sound design. He also did the cover artwork and mixed the album.

Skaug attempted to create with Heart Sight more tactile and dynamic music, The eight short pieces are structured from free-associative improvisations on guitar, electronics and samples, layered and edited with abstract, vulnerable vocalizations, double bass and other nearby objects and instruments, then processed again and sculpted to greater resonant detail. Skaug mentions the vocal and sound artistry of fellow Norwegian Maja Ratkje, the American electronics player Keith Rankin, Indonesian traditional gamelan music and the experimental guitar world as seminal influences while working on Heart Sight.

The outcome reveals in this tasking process surprising and unpredictable sonic particularities and their own independent flow. All play an equally important part in the unconventional harmonic and melodic characteristics of the fragile, mostly atmospheric soundscapes, even in their most abstract, eccentric and noisy moments. These pieces welcome all sounds, unsettling and captivating, off-pitch and pure tones. Skaug wanted to make Heart Sight a rich, genre-defying and sonic-emotional landscape driven by the actual unison of these apparent opposites. It sounds like he sure succeeded and suggested a highly personal and inclusive sonic vision.

Eyal Hareuveni

Magnus Skaug (guitars, voice, double bass, electronics)