We featured Ingvild Koksvild recently, and still recommend you check out her 'Songs from the Deepest Sea' EP if you haven't already, but writing about her led us in the direction of another musician from the same windswept peninsula of Norway. Lars Jakob Rudjord is a Norwegian musician who, if you listen to his music, is obviously inspired by his surroundings, and his 2016 album, which is simply entitled 'Indiepiano', is a lovely collection of compositions that you will get completely lost inside.
I was thinking that we should write a belated post on the album, but thankfully we have something more up to date, as yesterday Lars Jakob Rudjord released a short piece entitled 'Pharos'. Rudjord avoided the queues at the wooden hut in the forest (which, as we know, is the place that most Scandinavian musicians seem to compose their music) and found his retreat in a small art gallery next to a lighthouse, the perfect setting for writing music. I guess the obvious comparisons in his music would be with Icelandic artists such as Biggi Hilmars or Olafur Arnalds (particularly his Island Songs), but once again we'll mention Max Richter, as there is an obvious similarity in his style of writing also.
'Pharos' is a particularly lovely track, that if you turn up really loud on your best speakers seems to completely take over every corner of the house, and I particularly love the musical phrasing and expression in Rudjord's piano playing, those tiny subtle accents and pauses that help form patterns in the music. I've written before about my own connection with the sea, and music such as this seems to sum up why I love windswept ocean environments so much - it's almost as if 'Pharos' is written in awe of the surroundings.
This is 'Pharos':
Anyway I've probably written way too much about a 3 minute track, but this is beautiful writing, so please check out this track, and also try and find his 2016 album 'Indiepiano' too, it's available on both Itunes and streaming services.