Geir Hjorthol - In These Times (2021)

Hjorthol & Barth are Geir Hjorthol and Andreas Barth, a duo who make music inspired by a range of genres: contemporary jazz, folk music, improvised and electronic music. Elements from these and other traditions weave in and out of the duo’s experimentation with tonality and alternative playing techniques. In These Times was recorded in Ocean Sound Recordings, a wonderful music studio on Giske, a small island in Western Norway, with a view of the North Sea outside the windows.

The backdrop to this album is complex, consisting both of a nature that is beautiful but also dangerous when a storm gathers. We can see this as an image of the dramatic times in which we live, together with the hope that things will become better.

Music is sound, and the sounds of Hjorthol & Barth’s music are created by more than just musical instruments and the human voice. In this album you can hear the sound of the waves outside the studio (recorded simultaneously with our playing) and the voices of children in joyful play, interrupted by a plane crossing the sky. In These Times gathers together contrasting elements like these. Melodic lines alternate and combine with dynamic rhythms and creative noise, forming a musical texture that is at once simple and complex.