Egil Kalman - Weaving a Fabric of Winds (2019)

Can experimental electro-acoustic music have a folkish sensibility? Yes, it can, and the most accomplished case in point is given by “Weaving a Fabric of Winds”, the result of the partnership between Egil Kalman and Fredrik Rasten, two unavoidable names when considering the exploratory music scene in Scandinavia. An acoustic guitar with steel strings (sometimes paired with an electric one) and a modular synthesizer are the only instruments on ear range, recorded in entire takes without any additional overdubs. Having the historical trajectories of the instruments in mind, this is an interesting instrumentarium for a duo; the acoustic guitar is a main tool within folk and popular music expressions, while the modular synthesizer has its roots in experimental music and sound explorations.
Kalman is also a double bass player, active in the free improvised music scene, and you may recognize Rasten’s name from the catalogue of the German record label Wandelweiser, specializing in the written music inspired by John Cage’s concepts relating to silence. The spontaneous and the composed mingle in these sound objects, giving an early music and a countryside atmosphere to the use of just intonation (sometimes with real-time retunings), with an approach clearly of today, but not seeming to belong to any time period in the history of music. Prepare yourself for one more surprise coming from the Shhpuma’s cauldron.