The Norwegian experimental duo Propan – vocalists Ina Sagstuen and Natali Abrahamsen Garner – was founded in 2011, toured extensively throughout the world but «Loom» is only its third release, a limited edition cassette (and a download option) by the Scottish label GLARC (Greater Lanarkshire Auricular Research Council). Propan’s fourth album, «Swagger», will be released by Sofa Music in August 2022.

«Loom» offers a spellbinding evolution of Propan. Sagstuen and Garner abandoned their setup of vocals processed with effects, and focus now on acoustic and minimalist sounds woven from percussion instruments, wine glasses, ceramics, and the duo idiosyncratic vocal work, with subtle effects.  The 16 short pieces are titled as numbered «Meditations» and all are semi-composed improvisations, where timbre, texture, rhythm and form become layers in a sonic weaving.

Propan transformed into a duo of sonic sorcerers with these hypnotic «Meditations». Like modern and irreverent twin shamans, Sagstuen and Garner cast minimalist spells and incantations, evoke enigmatic divinations and trance-like, wordless hymns. They focus on a few meditative elements in each «Meditations» – suggestive and haunting vocal gestures, mysterious breaths and imaginative chirping sounds, or repetitive and cyclical but colorful and resonant percussive patterns. These arresting «Meditations» refer to the pioneering work of vocal artist Meredith Monk and the minimalism of Steve Reich, but they have also an accumulative and profound emotional effect. Patiently and methodically, Propan offers inspiring healing recipes for the current stressful times, reminding us about the immediate, comforting qualities of the human voice, in all its forms, colors and shapes.

Eyal Hareuveni

Ina Sagstuen (v, perc, eff.), Natali Abrahamsen Garner (v, perc, eff.)