Maja S. K. Ratkje, Torstein Slaen & Sigurd Ytre-Arne - The Swamp (2025) [Hi-Res]

Three left-of-center Norwegian improvisers go wild and almost drown in a dark sonic swamp. Sigurd Ytre-Arne is an audio-visual artist-sound engineer who works with samplers, synths, drum machines, and electronics in his studio, located in an old railway school in Hamar, north of Oslo. Guitarist Torstein Slåen is Ytre-Arne’s close collaborator, and since 2022, they have released four albums as Torstein & Sigurd (and another one of Ytre-Arne playing duos, with him, drummer Fredrik Wallumrød, and tuba player Hermann Hestbek). Vocal artist, vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Maja Ratkje needs no introduction.

The Swamp documents the first meeting of Ratkje, Ytre-Arne, and Slåen, captured at Ytre-Arne’s studio in Hamar in December 2024, mastered by Ratkje’s frequent