Lysning

Nils Økland has a characteristic so often found in Norwegian music, a combination of humility and determination. He has had a career that has earned him the highest respect in folk, jazz, classical and experimental music for his impeccable Hardanger fiddle playing, his sense of musicianship, his passion for traditions and for breaking boundaries. Lysning brings together other musicians who speak and think as Økland does: Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, whose saxophone playing and approach to composition is mischievously disruptive; Sigbjørn Apeland, whose work with Økland has opened up the harmonium world to other spheres; Håkon Mørch Stene's percussion explores dynamics and textures in a supremely sensitive way; and bassist Mats Eilertsen's playing surely has a hotline to heaven.
The music on Lysning derives from a number of different projects Økland has been involved with, from scoring film soundtracks to collaborations in Orkney. There is not one note on this album out of place, not one moment when we're not confronted by a beautiful isolation that somehow makes sense of this world, and which lingers long in the memory.