Green Isac Orchestra Releases New Vinyl Album, 'b a r'

Acoustic instruments including piano, cello, marimba and a variety of drums & percussion work in concert with live electronics such as synthesizers, mellotron, electric guitar, therevox, and gizmotron, mingle to create a sound that overflows with imaginative originality. Morten Lund and Andreas Eriksen took their adventurous 25 year Green Isac collaboration to a new level when they expanded the duo to a five member ensemble and rechristened themselves Green Isac Orchestra in 2015. Titled simply b a r, their second album as the full-fledged Green Isac Orchestra and the seventh Green Isac album overall, is a brilliant expression of their electro-acoustic blend of kinetic rhythms, inventive melodies, and organic soundscapes. The album is available from Spotted Peccary Music in LP vinyl format and in 24-BIT AUDIOPHILE, CD QUALITY LOSSLESS, MP3 and streaming formats. All links: https://orcd.co/b-a-r

b a r was recorded and mixed at Frydenlund Studio, Oslo, Norway, where it was mastered by Lunds Lyd, with cover art by Nils Olav Bøe, who did the previous Green Isac Orchestra album cover illustration. You will hear five musicians lending their skills, secrets, and dreams to create together an elegant and intricate instumental orchestral tour de force. The orchestra includes Jo Wang playing piano, therevox, mellotron, organ, and synths; Tov Ramstad playing cello and electric cello; Morten Lund playing electric guitar, lapsteel, electronics, baritone guitar, and gizmotron; Frode Larsen playing percussion, mallets, and grand cassa; and Andreas Eriksen playing drums, percussion, synth bass, programming and arpeggiations.

The album title b a r is a word with a lot of different meanings, variously: a long rod used as an obstruction, for fastening, or as a weapon; a counter where alcoholic drinks are served; a deposit composed of sand, silt, or pebbles in a river; a candy bar; to prevent someone from doing something or from going somewhere; a stripe with colors; a term for the legal profession; a line through a letter; a punctuation symbol; as well as specific nouns, family names and geographical designations. The album begins with some moments of power on the first song and settles into a calm meditative groove with a few climactic episodes blended in, creating some interesting dynamic tensions in the mix.

"Green Isac Orchestra is the extension of the duo Green Isac," Lund explains. "It was put together in order to play live versions of Green Isac material, but soon the band started to make new music. Minimalist and ambient were the core ideas in the beginning, but on b a r there are several hints to prog."

Ambient electronic means many things, much of the time the music is for listening, not dancing and there is no conventional melody or beat, or perhaps the cohesion is more about texture and exploration. Green Isac is known for fearlessly exploring rhythms and melodies from all around the globe, some dancing is allowed, some meditative trance music is included, on this new album there are feelings tapping into broader cultural resonances that connect to avant-garde art, classical music and folk music, performance and some harmonic language that was imported from jazz and 19th-century classical music. On b a r you will enjoy the rudimentary serialism and the instruments borrowed from world music and early music blended with new electronic musical instruments and technologies that transform the musicians' ideas of what was possible and the audiences' ideas of what is acceptable in music.

The album cover art is an image created by the Norwegian artist Nils Olav Bøe (http://www.omniweb.no/nob/), his imagery is sometimes of constructed urban and industrial landscapes, atmospheric and dreamlike miniature tableaus, often warping perceptions of dimensions and distances. "We feel there is a relation between Nils Olav Bøe's artistic signature and our musical expression. The naked minimalism in his art suits us well."

As a duo, Green Isac have always been known for the fresh and exciting recordings they created in the studio going all the way back to 1990. Now that the lineup has expanded to a quintet, the project has transformed into a living organism where the unmistakable Green Isac sound is developed and arranged with the musicians working together in a live setting, spontaneously crafting and refining their musical ideas through a process of realtime collaboration.

"Typically a small theme, rhythm, or soundscape is presented as a start point, and then the arrangements are made in rehearsals until we feel we are ready for recording." says Eriksen. "It has been quite refreshing working together as a group in this way, and we have really been focused on listening and responding to each other. Hopefully this reflects in the music and makes it more alive."

Tinted with the progressive hues of Eno, Tortoise, and King Crimson, b a r finds its home at the crossroads where West African polyrhythms meet the minimalism of Steve Reich and Nik Bärtsch. But whatever comparisons may come to mind, this iteration of Green Isac's music is as unique, innovative, and refreshing as ever. Modern and yet so perfectly timeless, Green Isac Orchestra's b a r is a powerful statement from a finely-tuned ensemble firing on all cylinders.

b a r is the group's fifth album on the Spotted Peccary label. Their previous releases include Green Isac Orchestra (SPM-1304), Passengers (SPM-1303), Etnotronica (SPM-1302), Groundrush (SPM-1301), and their first two albums are on the Origo Sound label, based in Norway (the recordings are available on Amazon), Happy Endings (1997), and Strings & Pottery (1991).

The album was recorded and mixed at Frydenlund Studio, in Oslo, Norway, where it was mastered by Lunds Lyd, and is available for physical purchase in LP vinyl format and in 24-BIT AUDIOPHILE, CD QUALITY LOSSLESS, MP3 and streaming formats. The LP version of b a r arrives in a factory sealed sleeve that includes vibrant artwork, liner notes, cover art by Nils Olaf Bøe, and exquisite package design by Daniel Pipitone.

Tracklist:

01 Volcanic 7:47
02 Le Grand Sportif 7:05
03 With Hat 3:25
04 Don Progini 7:03
05 Aarwaaken 6:10
06 Without Hat 5:50

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