Spektral Quartet ~ Experiments in Living (New Focus Recordings)
Artist: øjeRum
Over the years, Copenhagen’s øjeRum has released a healthy amount of music, while gracing dozens of albums with his art. We’ve always wanted a book, a card deck or other collection of these images ~ and in 2020, we got our wish. This striking cover art is only the introduction to a generous art deck that accompanies the double album Experiments in Living.From Dan Lippel, co-founder of New Focus Recordings: New Focus was honored to release Spektral Quartet’s path breaking Experiments in Living. The concept of using tarot cards to reorder the program order and curate one’s own album experience through different affects and moods suggested by the individual pieces is a fantastic way to engage with our shuffle oriented listening culture. And placing older canonic quartet works alongside newer experimental works beautifully establishes the important point that we can see many through lines in the repertoire, not always defined by the linear progression of chronology. Bravo Spektral, and thank you A Closer Listen for featuring this special recording!
.
From Spektral Quartet: Experiments in Living is ultimately a sonic collage, stringing together seemingly disparate musical approaches, which is where the idea to release it as a kind of Tarot-like card experience came from. During an early brainstorming session, (violinist) Maeve piped up and said, “I’ve been following this incredible artist on Instagram…” and once we all started digging in, we were smitten. øjeRum’s collage-based creations are not only transportive, they also leave considerable space for the viewer to become immersed in their own interpretive experience.
The symbiosis was immediately apparent, especially considering that one way to “play” is to create a track list based on the artwork adorning each card. The funny thing about the album cover is that we wrestled with the idea of commissioning something new from øjeRum, but when we finally got honest with ourselves about it, we realized that it – coordinated with Natalie Bontumasi’s seamless text treatment and design – couldn’t be anything but the enigmatic piece that you see living there.