Consolations bring together two unique Norwegian musicians – vocal artist Sissel Vera Pettersen, who adds subtle live electronics, and pianist Vigleik Storaas, who makes intimate and engaging music that feels like a real playground where everything is allowed. Pettersen and Storaas succeed to radiate the joy of conversing spontaneously through improvisation and letting the music take them where it wants. Their music was recorded live at Øra Studio in Trondheim, without overdubs.

Both Pettersen and Storaas share a love of good melody, but they use the melodic veins as means for gentle and playful sonic searches and curious dynamics that solidify their deep and rich interplay. Both are well-versed in the duo format. Pettersen, the artistic director of Trondheim Voices, has collaborated with Danish pianist Nikolaj Hess and fellow vocal artist Randi Pontoppidan as well as French guitarist Marc Ducret. Storaas has recorded with his own trio, solo, with pianist Ivar Antonsen and with sax player Tor Yttredal.

Consolations offer seven open conversations between Pettersen and Storaas. Pettersen usually sets the tone of each piece, but she is always attentive to Storaas’ ideas and ready to shape and reshape the music. Few pieces like «Consolation», the more dramatic and suggestive three «Conversations» and the reverent «Psaumes Des Arbres» are free-associative, highlighting the natural flow of the improvised music and the intimate and often vulnerable dialogs of Pettersen and Storaas. The songs «Winter Sweet» (originally performed by Norma Winstone on Siren’s Song, Justin Time, 1997) and Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz’s jazz standard «Alone Together»  further stress the poetic interplay of Pettersen and Storaas and their deep love of the jazz legacy. Beautiful, comforting music for the coming dark days of the winter.

Eyal Hareuveni 

Sissel Vera Pettersen (v, live elec), Vigleik Storaas (p)