Norwegian double bass player-composer-bandleader Sigurd Hole grew up in a farm in Rendalen, Norway, where his family had a cabin five kilometers from the farm, in Gammelsætra. As a child, Hole helped his parents look after the sheep and absorbed the local, environmental sounds. Even today, 35 years later, when he wakes up he hears the the tinkling of sheep bells and a continuum of buzzing insects, varying in pitch and intensity: some close and some far away, some passing rapidly by. Birds join in now and then, accompanied by sheep chatter.
So, when the TronTalk commissioned Hole in Alvdal to compose a work for its 2023 edition, he wanted to explore further musical and conceptual ideas concerning humanity´s relationship with nature. This is a theme he already explored on Roraima (Elvesang, 2022), commissioned by Oslo World for the festival in 2020, where Hole reflected on solidarity and ecological vulnerability and drew inspiration from the creation myth of the Yanomami people and the sound of the Amazon rainforest.
Extinction Sounds, with a similar eight-musician ensemble of Nordic, chamber jazz, addresses such environmental issues from a more personal angle, beginning with Hole’s childhood memories. This work was composed during Hole’s visits to Gammelsætra in the spring and summer of 2023, and attempts to find out if there are some changes that Hole hears in this remote location and how much he can trust his sonic memories. Extinction Sounds was recorded live at the first performance of the ensemble at Tynset Kulturhus in October 2023.
Extinction Sounds evolved into an eight-movement suite that investigates deeper and more universal sonic aspects of nature, or the philosophy of sound. All sounds, and how we approach, experience and relate to these fleeting sounds, and how these sounds – of past and present – shape our subjective perception of reality and trigger all kinds of emotional responses and intellectual processes. Hole quotes in his liner a haiku of 18th-century Japanese poet Chori that captures his aim: Leaves never fall / in vain – from all / around bells tolling.
This inspired work suggests a highly immersive listening experience, where the delicate, slow-shifting themes offer a sonic haven from the packed-up, unsettling urban sonic environments, just like the cabin in the picturesque nature of Gammelsætra. The reserved, often minimalist – haiku-like – and melancholic spirit of Extinction Sounds reflects on such urgent themes as the extinction crisis and loss of biodiversity worldwide, best realized in the buzzing sounds of the centerpiece «Four Rooms». This sound-oriented work attempts to distill the elusive but highly suggestive, transient sonic qualities of nature, so we can fully appreciate the coming loss and, hopefully, such awareness, may motivate us to take action, first as curious and concerned listeners.
Eyal Hareuveni
Jon Balke (piano), Torben Snekkestad (saxophone, trumpet), Sara Övinge (violin), Bendik Bjørnstad Foss (viola), Tanja Orning (cello), Anders Kregnes Hansen (marimba, percussion), Veslemøy Narvesen (drums, percussion), Sigurd Hole (double bass)
