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XXAfter collaborating on the "The Thule Spirit" album project back in 1996, it’s now time for Tobias Sjögren and Per Jørgensen to team up again for a new exciting album — UNSPOKEN SONGS. In contrary to the previous album, UNSPOKEN SONGS is a live-in-studio album focusing the exploration of the duo setting, emphasizing the possibilities of close interaction — all through the lens of 13 new compositions, written by Sjögren.
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XXA significant aspect of UNSPOKEN SONGS is how the guitar is sounding — unusually full and rich.
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XXA broad range of compositions are presented on UNSPOKEN SONGS to fully take advantage of the duos potential.
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XXSays Sjögren ”In late 2001 I began experimenting with new tunings for my regular acoustic nylon string guitar. This led to discovering a tuning which makes the guitar a new kind of guitar/bass hybrid instrument, where the two lowest strings are tuned one octave down from normal tuning.”
XX”What is particularly engaging about this tuning is that the notes relationships on the fretboard are the same, there’re only octave displacements. The adaption to the new tuning is for that reason not a big one — but the sound difference is huge. The instrument is sort of divided into two instruments, where you’ve got the low register of the two bass strings and then a big leap to the next four guitar strings. I can, in a sense, play guitar and bass at the same time and have a register that’s a lot wider, more like a piano — a relief, and a lot of fun.”
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XXSays Sjögren ”After finding the new guitar tuning, the new guitar/bass hybrid instrument became my main forum for my compositions. The primary positive effect of having the new guitar around was the amount of new music that I wrote on it, and featuring it. I experienced an outburst of energy composing lots of new music just through the effect of playing this new instrument. Each of these new compositions were like their own research projects into defining what this new instrument could do. That’s how I feel in general about music making anyway — it’s an exciting journey into discovering what it is, and especially what it could be.”
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XXSays Sjögren "Per is really one of the most exciting, singular improvising musicians around. He has managed to build a spot for himself that is his alone. Ever since I heard him in 1990, singing and playing the trumpet, I’ve been dreaming of and imagined myself playing with him. It first happened in 1996 on the ”The Thule Spirit” album project, and on the following tour. Per joined forces with Christian (Vuust, Danish saxophone player) and me in this recording project, and became the leading voice for that album. That music was dense and highly produced with lots of overdubs layers, with the exception of two songs where Per and me played as a plain duo. There was something special about it. So the idea of coming back to a collaboration within the duo setting was a logical continuation of our working relationship.”
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XX”To have a confining concept and try to find the variety within that, has always been very important for me. This time I couldn’t achieve the variety by timbre so much as I’m used to be able to do, since the instruments used are the same throughout. So it had to come from the compositions themselves to a larger extent. There’s some help from the subtle orchestrations though. I thought it was appropriate to involve some after-treatment orchestrations to fulfil the story, and to let the ear have some change. Therefore the Expanded Duo.”
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XX”In a duo situation like this with Per where my first and foremost function is to serve as an accompanist, it’s real easy as a guitar player to feel inferior to what a piano could do in the same situation. The range and the dynamic and harmonically possibilities are a lot greater on the piano in comparison (to the guitar). This new tuning made it possible to reduce the lead, so to speak, that the piano has. This new guitar became my main instrument.”
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XX”Now with UNSPOKEN SONGS the focus is on the two of us playing live in the studio, which was quite a challenge for us as instrumentalists, as there’s no hiding — everything is exposed. The idea of maintaining this focus on the duo, while bringing in some synth orchestration overdubs after the fact here and there, was important — especially regarding the volumes in the mix. The instrumentation variation comes mainly from Per alternating between the trumpet and the singing. I play the same acoustic guitar throughout except for two songs ("Ever Since That Day" & "Nearby the End of the Road") where I play the vg8 guitar.”
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XX”As much as this album is about the playing-together-ness, it equally is about bringing forward and serving the compositions. Especially since there’s lot of substance to them, and a pretty high rate of information flow. The duo context was the point of departure for the compositions, however the compositions was the starting-point for the recording.”
XXFinding a good balance between those two greatnesses — context and composition — seems to have been of high priority to Sjögren and Jørgensen.
XX”To try to balance the fact that we have to do everything for what’s best to make the compositions blossom, together with our wish as musicians to benefit from what the duo’s strengths are, is quite an undertaking, and a hard combination to make happen. At best, one should feel that everything is done in service of the composition, while at the same naturally going to the musical areas where the duo sounds the best. If those two criterias can be fulfilled, I think one has succeeded in some way.”
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XX”There's something very appealing about the duo format. You’ve got lots of room for interplay between the two. Everything you do is being heard, and you can really ”get paid” for all the nuances you put into the music. Every dynamic gesture is put on display, which could be frightening — but with Per it’s just wonderful to delve into this zone of details and interaction. He’s so much about being in the moment.”
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download this text as a file HERE
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unspoken [ún‘spowkun] — expressed without speech; especially because words would be inappropriate or inadequate
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1 Hidden Dance
XXI somewhat had the sensation of a dance while writing this piece, almost with some baroque dignity. Therefore the name of the song. I think to some extent, that the title did serve as a starting point for Per and his vocal improvisation for the middle section. Although our interests is within instrumental music, we’re open to influences from ”outside”.
XXSometimes it’s good to have something like a hidden agenda behind the tunes that you want to put forward. Since I believe in the power of instrumental music, I think a distinct content/message, or whatever I should call it, can be even stronger when it’s not openly displayed (in words). The receivers have to find out for themselves what it actually is about.
XXAfter the main sections comes a long ending section, which is for Per and his muted trumpet, to reflect on and improvise from the melody, in a new context and mode, gradually moving towards the next song.
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9 Once Upon a Time
XXThis melody came to me one afternoon saying that it had something to tell me, something about the past. It was really important and urgent. It (the melody) wanted me to tell it’s short story and to put some chords to go along. So I did.
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5 I Will Do It
XXLooking back on this album project it’s foremost about investigating the area of ballads or calm modes. It has a lot to do with the volume limits of the nylon string guitar, which is being played throughout, in the way that I can’t play too loud and have it sound decent. Yet I wanted to have some contrast in this regard on the album, so I tried to go for something more uptempo and a little louder here.
XXAgain, it’s composed on my new guitar, and it actually, maybe more than any other song, utilizes the possibilities of the divided bass/guitar instrument. I treat the instrument as two, almost creating a illusion of two separate instruments. It’s got a feel of that I think, not being totally obvious though.
XXPer is featured here playing an extensive solo on the trumpet, going into changing harmonic terrains, and as always in attempt to create something fresh. To try to create drama with the form is something I really aspire to — we’re always trying to tell an absorbing story, trying to maintain the interest throughout.
XXI guess that’s the mission that I have as a musician playing foremost instrumental music; to try to reveal the qualities coming from telling a story non-verbally (hence unspoken songs). It can really be about something specific all the same. I find myself returning to this point of view, that it can be very specific, and yet very open at the same time. In these dynamics, there’s a lot to explore, on a never-ending subject. Due to the inherent paradox, it’s a construction which can be investigated over and over again.
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10 Let Me Tell You
XXAnother one showing up one day, eager to be heard. Also, I wanted Per and me to have something simple to jam on, more like a rock tune with just 3 chords to it — there was the solo section. It’s really something else to improvise together with Per because he’s such a good listener. It’s as if he thinks that the single most important aspect of music making is the listening ability. He has the willingness to really interact and play off each other. I think the middle solo section of this tune is one of the most fresh things we recorded together.
XXPer has such a tremendous range of expression and dynamics in his singing. It can be so soft and smooth, and suddenly he explodes into this minaret-like singing that only he can do. One cannot help but surrender to that strong and singular expression.
XXDuring the writing of Unspoken Songs I have in parallel been exploring the new guitar instrument, with questions like: What can it do? How can it be used? This tune is another of these small research projects where the aim was to experiment in having certain melody notes ringing inside the next melody note. This creates a special kind of web of interfering notes, forming harmony from melody.
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2 Twice Untold
XXAt the recording session for Unspoken Songs, being the guitar player, the composer, the arranger, the engineer and the producer at the same time was a lot of pressure. Not that I don’t like it, but sometimes it can be tough to be in a situation like that — especially if there’s a time pressure on top as well.
XXWhen we recorded this track, I said to Per that the loud section that starts the vocal solo should be something like ”the storm before the calm” which is obviously the reverse of how you normally put it. XXSometimes (not to often) I manage to trigg my fellow musicians with some short general (but at the same time specific) instruction of my tune.
XXThat’s a special quality that I long to have more of — to be able to inspire and instruct at the same time, maintaining things open and specific in parallel. I guess that’s why you can really benefit from having a good producer around. I must try it at some point...
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6 Underneath
XXIn the context of a duo album I wanted to come up with ways of playing a solo by myself where I could simultaneously be both the accompanist and the soloist, certainly a challenging quest for any guitar player to put on. Here’s my take on it. The tune consists of the framework from the melody, and the guitar solo.
XXThe idea of comping and soloing at the same time is not at all something unusual for a pianist, but for a guitar player it for sure is. It’s something that I would like to search into a lot more in the future — to try to play like an orchestra on the guitar, with multiple lines involved at the same time etc. In a way it’s actually good that it is so damn hard...
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11 What’s Left is Right
XXThis one serves as an overture to the next track, with the feel of narrowing down into something. This was the first piece we recorded, an overture in that sense as well.
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12 Nearby the End of the Road
XXLook out for the hidden 2.30 minute long intro (on minus time on the CD player)! The goal of this introduction is to forebode or herald the coming main theme. It’s the sort of soundscape that we naturally are close to. I guess the album at some point needs to calm down in terms of presenting new material, and here it is.
XXOn this track I’m returning to my vg8 guitar instrument. The main theme is an eight bar section which repeats and builds up. We’re staying in the same spot for a long time for a change, enjoying ourselves. This is a highly orchestrated tune blending the vg8 with the after-treatment orchestration from the synths. We’re nearby the end of the album now, moving towards the final station.
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3 Ever Since That Day
XXWhen forming the material for this album I was mainly composing on my new hybrid guitar/bass instrument. At some point I thought I should use another instrument to get some timbre variety from the guitar as well above Per alternating between the trumpet and the vocal.
XXThis song is composed on and for the vg8 guitar and a special synthish sound on it. All the guitaristic gestures comes through intact though, which is the main quality of the vg8. Playing this instrument and especially with this sound is a lot of fun for me. It’s almost as if I take on a different, more anonym identity playing that guitar, with a sound that most people does not at all connect to a guitar. Probably not a very wise career move, but very effective for musical results.
XXThe way the trumpet and the guitar blends here on this song is really nice, going into each other.
XXThis track is in the shorter songs category, and we’re pretty much just making a distilled statement of what the song essentially is all about.
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7 Always Here
XXBack to featuring Per playing his trumpet. This one has quite a lot of orchestration added to it; strings, vibraphone, woodwind etc. And we’re back to the shorter format, where the composition itself contains the complete story. I think this song will stick with me for sometime.
XXAnother thing to mention here about this album, guitar-wise, is that it’s a return to what was my starting point as a guitarist, which was to play with my finger nails exclusively. I started out playing classical guitar around age 12, so I got this technical foundation early on, which I can benefit from playing like I do here.
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13 Arrival
XXWell, it’s not a cover of the Abba tune, that’s for sure. Concludes the whole album and puts the other tunes in retrospective.
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download this text as a file HERE
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8 From Above
XXHere we have two highly contrasting sections that stands side-by-side to form the composition. After the first section the tune says ”And now to something completely different” — and we’re going into to ”jazz section”. The composition dictated itself... No, but of course you have to listen carefully to your baby to hear where it wants to go. We tried not to make her go to the pub but she really wanted so... we had to adapt. Then we got her back to the cinema. And so is the ABA form completed.
XXThat’s a universal form, the ABA form. You can find it everywhere. To me, form wise, the main question is when you come back to the final A (of the ABA form); how much new substance and how much old should you use? The balance of having enough of new material/ingrediences so that it won’t be just a repeat of the first A, and enough of old and already used ingrediences (from the first A section) to have it coherent and connected, is important (the proportions will indeed vary from situation to situation though). The linear vs. the cyclic.
XXPer and I struggled with the jazz section for a long time to get it right, until we played back one of the recorded rehearsals from the day before, and there it was — quite long, but without doubt the take to use. That’s a good practise in the studio to say; ”Let’s just practise, but with the recorder on — then after that we can record the real take”. Often the test take is more relaxed and just better. So you have to learn to fool yourself and put it into your head that this is not the real take, even though you might know that there’s a high probability of that it actually is.
XXEven more evident than on ”I Will Do It” is the illusion of two guitars playing, which was the starting point for this composition.
XXThis song is for my son, Julian. He first heard, and reacted to it about 4 years ago. He’s now 3 1/2 years old. Think about that.
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4 Distant Lullaby
XXWhen recording this song we cranked up the reverb a lot in our headphones, both in length and volume, and we really played out from that sound, with our eyes shut we could almost sense being inside a big cathedral. That’s really a fun thing to experiment with — adjusting your playing to a special sonic situation. This is something that I think Per really feels comfortable with as well. You should always adapt to the current situation in every possible regard, and this (a sonic situation) is just one of them, often overlooked though. I’ve all my musical life been very concentrated on the sound itself — how I play the guitar is equally important to what I play. It should be a matter of course I think, but it’s often not. Anyway, I guess it just reflects what I, as a listener, values in music.
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