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After appearing on more than 400 albums as a sideman and session player, multifaceted guitarist and instrument collector Geir Sundst\u00f8l gave us a trilogy of his, long awaited, own compositions. Now he is back, with a follow-up to Norwegian Grammy-\/Spellemannpris- winning album Br\u00f8dl\u00f8s.<\/p>\n
St.Hanshaugen Steel offers an extraordinarily wide range of genre references, and takes us further into Sundst\u00f8l\u2019s original and distinctive soundscapes. With clear cinematic features, Sundst\u00f8l displays an ever impressing variety of instruments, sliding from the deep and rough bass harmonica to the sharp, circus-like marxophone. In between, multiple layers of glimmering steel. Guest appearances by\u00a0he angelic S\u00f8lvguttene boys\u2019 choir bring utter goose bumps, while other parts of St.Hanshaugen Steel might induce the darker chills of Nordic Noir.<\/p>\n
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The album St.Hanshaugen Steel is an homage to the factory bearing the same name. The steel factory, founded by the somewhat evasive Jebsen Brothers, was in operation between 1890 and 1969, and was located on St.Hanshaugen in Oslo, which now is a highly popular residential area, and Sundst\u00f8l\u2019s own stomping ground. But rather than the chimes of industry, St.Hanshaugen\u00a0Steel\u00a0pays attention to the nuts and bolts that give rise to the whole machine. The title may, of course, also be a reference to Geir Sundst\u00f8l\u2019s reputable broad spectrum-treatment of the pedal steel guitar.<\/span><\/p>\n While the sound of St.Hanshaugen Steel shares points of continuity with earlier Sundst\u00f8l Hubro releases Furulund (2015), Langen Ro (2016) and Br\u00f8dl\u00f8s (2018), there are some important departures.\u00a0A new palette of sound-making devices, from Sundst\u00f8l\u2019s hording of synthesizers, has made its quite audible mark.<\/p>\n \u00abBeing born in the late sixties, vocoders, Simmons synth drums, and synths in general, sound very modern to me.\u00bb Hours of exploration and studies of this \u201cmodernity\u201d shine through this otherwise organic music, as does the analog modification of familiar sounds: Another experiment developed into the eclectic track Hoven: Like his first and third album (the sec0ond was recorded at St.Jakob church in Oslo), Sundst\u00f8l made the St.Hanshaugen Steel at home, in his Studio Intim. Once again calling upon some of his favourite musical brothers in arms; drummer and percussionist Erland Dahlen, bass players Mats Eilertsen and Jo Berger Myhre, and pianist\/keyboardist David Wallumr\u00f8d.<\/p>\n Although Sundst\u00f8l himself handles a vast variety of sometimes \u201cunusual\u201d instruments\u00a0\u00a0– he is indeed a collector as well as a composer and musician – the presence of these \u201cusual suspects\u201d is crucial to achieve the Sundst\u00f8l musical universe. Erland Dahlen is also often by Sundst\u00f8l\u2019s side at live performances. A Duo Extraordinaire.<\/p>\n A unique voice, yet new to this particular universe, is Arve Henriksen, who leaves his personal mark on the opening track, V\u00e5g. \u00abI had admired Arve\u2019s lyrical expression for years, and finally I mustered up the confidence to ask him to participate.\u00bb Initially, the trumpeter was asked to play on the outro of V\u00e5g, but he \u00abgot carried away, and added 10 tracks of trumpet and horn. We recorded V\u00e5g, thinking half-speed pedal steel, upright bass and 80\u2019s Simmons Drums would be the core of the song. It came out a little more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n Sundst\u00f8l describes the further tracks on St.Hanshaugen Steel: KA is Indian Shankar- and National guitar-Blues. Handheld bells, analogue synths and Norway\u2019s most beloved traditional boys\u2019 choir, S\u00f8lvguttene. The thought of their singing in my living room still fills me with awe. Hoven: It\u2019s got ethereal organ, Christian church-like bass over a twisted Hindu beat. I play the usual National- and pedal steel guitar, and to top it off, we added the\u00a0S\u00f8lvguttene boys\u2019 choir,. A \u2018multi-culti\u2019 song if there ever was one, with a spiritual twist.<\/p>\n Smet: This is quite an eerie mix of cold DX7 synth, electric insects running around Erland\u2019s snare drum, upright bass and Parisian toy pianos. It bears traces of the mentioned technical experiment; recording steel at high speed and then slowing it down.<\/p>\n Omsorg: I don\u2019t write music – I play, make mistakes that sound good, and then try to create something out of that. This track has guitar-o-phone, optigan, steel, national guitar, organ and an upright bass that sounds like an old motor boat. The bass function lies in the harmonica. And the title translates to \u201ccare\u201d.<\/p>\n P\u00f8s: 80\u2019s vocoder and Shankar guitar paired with the Wurlitzer Side Man, the world\u2019s first drum machine. This is probably the only track that bears any resemblance to industrial sounds. It has a somewhat old fashioned melody line, like something the great Cornelis Vreeswijk would have sung about a dad working at the factory. <\/p>\n After appearing on more than 400 albums as a sideman and session player, multifaceted guitarist and instrument collector Geir Sundst\u00f8l gave us a trilogy of his, long awaited, own compositions. Now he is back, with a follow-up to Norwegian Grammy-\/Spellemannpris- winning album Br\u00f8dl\u00f8s.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abInitially, it startet out as a technical project. I wanted to explore the possibilities of recording pedal steel onto analog tape,\u00a0at 30 ips, and then slowing it down to 15 ips. Exactly an octave below. There are still traces of that experiment on the album (tracks Smet and V\u00e5g), but the exploration turned into songs.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00abI fiddled with the pitch controller on my raga box. It slowly evolved into a strange melody. It was still a Hindu melody, but when we added the church-like bass lines and the boys\u2019 choir, it morphed into a multi-religious song.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u201cLyssky\u201d draws inspiration from spooky British sci-fi as well as pompous, white wig-wearing composers. David takes us on a trembling journey with his Arp synth.<\/p>\n
\nKl\u00f8pper: Mats (Eilertsen) sent me a bass line, without any instruction. I found it especially tricky to add the Mini Pops drum machine. Certainly a backwards way of doing things, but valuable. The melodica solo is an homage to the late Augustus Pablo. Pedal steel and National guitar on a bed of dub beats. My Bermuda Triangle.<\/p>\n
\nFor me, melody is the key. If there\u2019s no melody, or if the melody doesn\u2019t add up, I don\u2019t get it.\u00bb<\/p>\n