Recommended: Lars Greve – “Breidablik”

It’s the communion between the clarinet & sax of Lars Greve and his field recordings that is most striking about his new album.  Breidablik is subtle, and doesn’t attempt to overwhelm with its presence.  It exists almost entirely in a state of drone, mirroring the deep stillness of the countryside from which many of his field recordings originate.

And just like those natural surroundings, there are murmurs and twittering and the rustle of movements, so brief and then they’re gone.  There is the occasional burst of melodicism, of warm sunlight breaking through the clouds and laying a heavenly glow upon everything the ray’s tendrils reach out and touch.  And there is the soft touch of moonlight and the comforting hush of a world at sleep.

Breidablik counts as his solo debut, but Greve’s name should be relatively familiar to readers of this site.  He was a sideman on Copenhagen Art Ensemble‘s Reutersward and the Markus Pesonen Hendectet‘s Hum… albums that both earned a slot on the Bird is the Worm’s year-end Best Of lists for their respective years.  Greve also collaborates with Alex Jønsson, who himself has received praise on this site as a member of the nifty ensemble, I Think You’re Awesome.  And all of those projects have very different sounds from one another, so as you begin exploring Greve’s music, you’re going to find all kinds of fun surprises.

Go give Breidablik a spin, and then check out some of the links in the album titles above and explore even more.

Here’s an enchanting video that uses an album track…

Released on the Hiatus label.

Music from the Copenhagen scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon