Signals | TRS094
We are absolutely pleased and fortunate to be bringing you this beautiful new collaborative effort between the much beloved Finnish electronic artist Lau Nau, and the wonderful Swedish composer and pianist Matti Bye.
Lau Nau and Matti have worked together for many years on a variety of projects. With this new album, Laura’s exceedingly delicate touch with her quietly twinkling and gently humming electronic treatments blend seamlessly with Matti’s softly echoed repetitions on the piano, leading to an overall feeling of peaceful quiet, and timeless mystery.
These 8 gently melancholic and deeply sensitive tracks are a perfect antidote to the stressful times that we all find ourselves in. Let these soothing sounds from the light filled days and nights of the far north soften your cares during these all too dark days.
TRS094 will be available in 3 distinct physical versions, as well as being available on CD and digitally with one extra track.
The first Deluxe Limited Edition version in an edition of 75 unique copies comes in an absurdly over-the-top modified, heavyweight recycled chipboard jacket. On the front of each jacket is an archival printed photo on vintage scrapbook paper of a man in the mid 1960’s, plugged into a bank of electrical components that were designed at the time by my father Kennan Herrick. He was an electrical engineer, inventor, neon/kinetic artist and Tesla coil builder. Loosely attached across the bottom of the photo is an actual old printout of signal waves from some obscure measuring device, each one unique. Lau Nau & Matti Bye’s names, and the album title have been typed out on an ancient typewriter and attached to the jacket by hand.
On the reverse side of each jacket is an assembled collage of sorts, also loosely taped and attached (so be very careful please!), of original hand written papers and diagrams, blueprints, transparencies, schematics, punch cards and artwork designs created by and belonging to Mr. Herrick. These have been somewhat modified by me with hand stamping etc as well. Inside the record jacket comes the 180gm “Icebreaker” colored vinyl in its inner black poly lined sleeve. Attached to each inner sleeve is a colorful hand printed textual picture insert with track titles and credits, and along with the record in the jacket comes a stapled bunch of 3-4 other original technical papers belonging to and written/drawn by my father. Finally…each record jacket is carefully bound with a length of copper electrical wire, and then comes in its own outer poly sleeve.
My father was also a huge lover of music as well as of electronic “signals” in general…I think he would have no doubt appreciated this album greatly! Thanks to Laura and Matti for humoring my sentiments!
As usual no two copies of this version are alike, and the one that you receive may or may not match the copies pictured.
There is also a standard, 180gm black vinyl version in an edition of 225 copies, which come in a super heavyweight, reverse board printed jacket. There is also a CD version in an edition of 125 copies with one extra track on it. The CD comes in a beautiful, 4 panel color digipak. The design for both these versions were made from scanned, actual vintage wave form printouts, and all the text was laid out one letter at a time using antique Letraset rub on type.
Also available digitally on our Bandcamp page.
This album will ship the week of October 12th 2020.
>>>>>>> Lau Nau <<<<<<<<
Lau Nau, aka Laura Naukkarinen, is one of the more interesting names in the Finnish contemporary music scene. A composer, music producer and performer whose music is imbued with a cinematic breadth of vision and idiosyncratic, finely honed sound world.
Lau Nau works using both acoustic and electronic instruments, from traditional instruments and singing voice to analogue synthesisers and field recordings. While her songs are luminous, melancholic pieces of experimental chamber folk music, her scores for films and sound installations are experimental studies of sound.
Lau Nau’s first solo albums were released in the US (Locust Music 2005 & 2008), winning acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and The Wire. To date Lau Nau has released seven albums in Europe, USA and Japan, garnering prize nominations like Teosto-, Emma-, Jussi- and Femma prizes. Nowadays she is well known for her music to films, silent films, theatre, dance, multi channel sound installations and lectures about composing.
Besides of Lau Nau, Laura Naukkarinen plays also in an improvisational group Kiri Ra! with Linda Fredriksson and Matti Bye and has a solo synth/violin project Subatlantti. She has been playing in various improv bands as IAX, Maailma, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Kiila, Avarus, the Anaksimandros, Päivänsäde, Kemialliset Ystävät, Chamellows and others.
>>>>>>>> Matti Bye <<<<<<<<
Matti Bye became infatuated with the piano at an early age. His foray into music started with the violin, the clarinet and the contrabass. However, none of these instruments matched his melancholic and romantic musical temperament. It wasn’t until he began to study the piano with an old Russian teacher that he found his true means of expression. Amazed by the sonic richness of the piano, it became his musical weapon of choice.
Matti sense of structure and harmonics was derived from playing and listening to Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven. Experimental styles like musique concrète helped expand his view of music and made him understand that the piano creates an environment of its own. Today, he is an avid researcher of musical genres like exotica, library music and forgotten soundtracks. The purpose is not to replicate a sound but to find jumping-off points for new compositions and expressions, recently manifested on the debut album by Mambo Noir Trio.
For years Matti performed live to screenings of silent masterpieces by directors like Fritz Lang, Victor Sjöström and Jean Vigo at the Cinematheque in Stockholm. The importance of this period for his musical education can probably not be overstated. His time at the Cinematheque enabled him to hone his ear and intuition, helping him to learn to trust his spontaneity in the process.
Matti’s piano playing has catapulted him onto the international stage for contemporary piano music and won him numerous accolades. Solo works like ”Drömt” from 2010 and 2013’s ”Bethanien” – the result of a two-year sojourn in Kreuzberg’s cultural centre in Berlin – have earned him fans all over the world. He composed new music for Victor Sjöström’s silent horror masterpiece ”The Phantom Carriage” (1921) and ”The Saga of Gosta Berling” (1924), both released as standalone works on Rotor Records. In addition to his solo works, Matti is one of Sweden’s most sought-after film composers. His scores to Felix Herngren’s “Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann” (2016), and Fredrik Edfelt’s ”Faro” (2013) won him composer awards at Sweden’s prestigious film awards ceremony Guldbaggen.
Eagerly exploring new creative contexts and avenues of expressions, he frequently works with other artists and musicians. Hydra’s Dream with Anna von Hausswolff and Maailma with Finnish songwriter Lau Nau are two critically acclaimed examples of his many collaborations.
Matti Bye’s musical universe is a world of layered, imperceptibly shifting atmospheres. He employs instruments experimentally to create musical spaces for the listener to inhabit. To walk into this world is to discover sound within sounds, rooms within rooms. While his style of play is super-light and uninhibited, his live performances are always masterly paced, never straying from the higher purpose of the music. His musical output is approachable, sensual and melancholic, and captures perfectly the fragility of the Nordic light in his native country.
The motherboard in Bye’s artistic venture is his recording space Studio Barnängen. As Bye’s music sometimes brings to mind foggy harbour scenes from a French 1940s film noir, it’s only suiting that the studio is located a stone’s throw from Norra Hammarbyhamnen (roughly translated: The North District of Hammarby Harbour) and that sailors from all over the world frequent the bar closest to the studio.
>>>>>>>> Credits <<<<<<<<
Improvised, recorded and mixed
by Laura Naukkarinen & Matti Bye
Stockholm 2018-2019 at Barnängen Studio
Mastered By Taylor Deupree at 12k
Artwork/design by Colin Herrick
Time Released Sound 2020
A
Brightness of the low sun
Cloud Circles
Le Premier Jour dans la lune
Earth Shadow
B
Île Disparue
Ocular Sea
Signals
Stjärnblick
CD and digital bonus track…
Color of Snow
