JÆ’s music is an eclectic mix of influences from folk, pre-war blues, jazz, classical music, free improvisation and more. Ragged and windblown, seductive and captivating, always with something unexpected lurking right around the corner. ‘I don’t attempt to polish the music into utter perfection–I’m more interested in character,’.
Sligter is originally from Utrecht, the Netherlands, and was trained at the music conservatories in Utrecht and Amsterdam. She found a group of musicians who suited her project perfectly in Oslo’s music community. ‘I didn’t see any possibility of doing what I wanted to do musically in Amsterdam, and couldn’t find a milieu that suited me. But I did find one in Norway! When I arrived in Oslo I booked a room at a hostel, took the underground up to the Norwegian Academy of Music, and asked people coming out of the building if they were studying jazz! It was fun, but I wouldn’t do the same thing now,’ she says. ‘But that’s how I got to know some people from the young improv community, and then it was easy to make contact with many more.’
She has a versatile group of musicians joining her on the record. They come from bands/projects including Christian Wallumrød ensemble, Rocket to the sky and Ingrid Olava. Contemporary composer Ole Henrik Moe jr and his wife Kari Rønnekleiv are responsible for all string arrangements. All the members of Splashgirl, who was responsible for the first ever release on HUBRO, contribute on this quite extraordinary album.
