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Tracklist

A1 It Sifts

B1 Skin Behind Trees

B2 The Freedom Of Others Extends Mine To Infinity

Personnel

Guro Skumsnes Moe: contrabass

Håvard Skaset: acoustic guitar

Jacob Felix Heule: bass drum

Credits

Recorded by Jacob Felix Heule at Temescal Arts Center, Oakland

August-September 2019 

Mixed by Jacob Felix Heule

Mastered by Elysian Masters, Los Angeles

Photography by Aage Villy Skaaret

Layout by Rob Carmichael, SEEN

Executive Produced by Peter Kolovos

“The freedom of others extends mine to infinity” is Mikhail Bakunin as quoted by Lê Quan Ninh in his book Improvising Freely.

TW-V:  

Sult

Always I Gnaw

Deluxe LP Edition

Heavy tip-on jacket with three variant covers, film laminate gloss, contrasting uncoated paper and metallic spot color.  Includes 27" x 11.5" Tri-fold insert printed on both sides. Pressed to high quality vinyl at RTI.

Release Date: September 1, 2023 / LP - $23

Over the past decade Sult has created a thrillingly dynamic and visceral sound world, forging a musical unity while also asserting the radically unique languages of its three core members, Guro Skumsnes Moe (contrabass) and Håvard Skaset (acoustic guitar) from Norway along with Jacob Felix Heule (percussion) based in California. Their raw acoustic improvisations crackle with an energy that makes indirect communications reverberate on a cosmic level. Their music evokes natural phenomena; storms, landslides, tectonic frictions, lightning splitting forests of trees. Sult exists on the outer edges of free improvisation and the avant-garde, echoing the multi-layered, sonic intensity of AMM's Crypt era as well as Mauricio Kagel's most physical/textural work and the existential force of Helmut Lachenmann's "instrumental musique concrète".

 

"Always I Gnaw" is the sharpest realization of Sult's vision to date. Over the course of three pieces the group deploys extended techniques and invents original approaches to their instruments with a joyous fervor. Moe’s contrabass brims with primal urgency, sometimes providing ballast and at other times glancing away in unpredictable directions. Skaset’s guitar scrapes and snaps like a fire's embers giving way to air, all the while Heul's percussive frictions percolate from a distilled concentration, piercing the sonic maelstrom.

 

The title of the album's closing track, "The Freedom of Others Extends Mine To Infinity" quotes Mikhail Bakunin, the 19th century revolutionary anarchist, and perhaps perfectly encapsulates the uncompromising ethos and spirit that is embodied by Sult's music. The trio’s distinct voices both splinter and resonate in sympathy; individual demonstrations of virtuosity become utterly unnecessary. The combination of quick-tempered interactions, noisy brutality and acoustic earthiness results in an album that glows with a healing, free-spirited wonder and an astoundingly unified wholeness.

 

Featuring the photography of Aage Villy Skåret. Presented in three variant tip-on jackets with gloss film laminate finishes, contrasting uncoated paper and metallic spot colors. Includes 27" x 11.5" tri-fold insert printed on both sides.

In the Archive:

Acoustic Noise, Anarchist Utopias and the Never Ending Process: An Interview with Sult

Tri-fold insert (27" x 11.5")

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