Advertisement
THOMAS STRØNEN trommer/komposisjonerAYUMI TANAKA piano
HÅKON AASE fiolin/perkusjon
LEO SANDER SVENSSON cello
OLE MORTEN VÅGAN bass
TIME IS A BLIND GUIDE
Thomas Strønens Time is a Blind Guide ga ut sitt første album på ECM for over ti år siden, og på slutten av 2025 kom bandets tredje utgivelse «Off Stillness» på samme selskap. Med en besetning som rommer fiolin, cello, kontrabass og piano, er Time is blind guide strengt tatt bare en bratsj unna å være en klassisk strykekvintett. Forskjellen er naturligvis Thomas Strønen, som med nennsom tromming og varme cymbaler fargelegger låtene og drar dem akkurat over grensa til jazzen. Håkon Aase styrer dem videre mot noe folketone- og hardingfeleaktig og Ayumi Tanaka gløtter mot den klassiske samtidsmusikken.
Til tider danner kvintettens tre strykere en sammensveiset trio, som går i en ettertenksom dialog med piano og perkusjon. Det nye albumet ble spilt inn i Rainbow Studio i 2021, mikset i München i 2024, og er produsert av Manfred Eicher. Mottakelsene har vært svært gode både her hjemme og i utlandet, og det er virkelig ikke rart at Time is a Blind Guide er blitt en av favorittene i den nyere delen av ECM-katalogen.
«Thomas Strønen har vært på vei, er på vei og kommer garantert til å bli værende på vei til steder kun han kjenner til og som han gjerne vil dele med oss. Det skal vi være svært takknemlig for.» – Tor Hammerø, Nettavisen
«Minimalistisk perle. Denne utgåva av Time Is A Blind Guide er den ultimate.» – Lars Mossefinn, Dag & Tid
Dører: 19:00
Konsert: 20:00
Billetter: https://checkout.ebillett.no/310/events/30721/purchase/setup?return_url=https://ebillett.no/kulturhusetbanken/30721&kanal=epo
There’s a rare acoustic alchemy at play in Time Is A Blind Guide.
Personnel changes have guided and co-shaped the musical character of Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen’s ensemble and on the group’s third recording we experience a slight shift in the line-up, with Leo Svensson Sander taking over on cello.
The new voice blends seamlessly into the quietly breathing ensemble sound, with a sparse but most precise Ayumi Tanaka navigating her way empathetically across the keyboard, responsive to Strønen’s percussive layers, Ole Morten Vågan’s bending double bass work and Håkon Aase’s lyrical violin accounts. At times the group’s three string instruments make up a firm trio-unit that enters into thoughtful dialogue with piano and percussion, but for the most part, the group’s pulse works as a whole, with each instrument dynamically gliding in and out of the picture, captured in well-known acoustics of Rainbow Studio.
The album, recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo in 2021, and mixed in Munich in 2024, was produced by Manfred Eicher. Release date is Dec. 5th, 2025.
By the end, one realizes that Off Stillness is as much a pilgrimage as an artistic statement.
Its stories do not unfold in straight lines but in spirals, circling back to that teenage boy in Tønsberg who planted a seed that has now grown into a tree in its own right. The music invites repeated listening not to decipher it but to inhabit it, each return revealing new details, like light shifting across the same landscape at different hours.
For all these reasons, it may well be—both in craft and in spirit—the ECM album of the year. There is truly nothing else like it.
Tyran Grillo – Between sound & space
The group’s previous recording Lucus (2018) garnered rave-reviews, with the German daily Nürnberger Nachrichten pinpointing exactly the strengths that make TIABG so unique, calling the ensemble “a musically, even philosophically open-minded quintet exploring outer space somewhere between baroque and folk. Questioning, hesitating, emphasising. This is jazz full of searching, longing, devoted to brittle beauty.” The same qualities are to the fore once more.
Don Lucoff, DL Media Music
“Off Stillness” is another triumph: searching, delicately sculpted, and quietly radical. A standout in Strønen’s already distinguished ECM catalogue.
Mike Gates, UK Vibe
Ayumi Tanaka – piano
Håkon Aase – violin/ percussion
Leo Svensson Sander – cello
Ole Morten Vågan – bass
Thomas Strønen – drums/ compositions
Two unmixed clips from their forthcoming record Off Stillness:
Advertisement
Event venue
Kirkegata 41, 2609 Lillehammer, Norway, Kirkegata 41, 2609 Lillehammer, Norge, Lillehammer, Norway
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.
Discover more events by tag
Music in LillehammerJazz in LillehammerContemporary-dance in LillehammerPerforming-arts in LillehammerArt in LillehammerFine-arts in LillehammerTheatre in LillehammerEntertainment in LillehammerConcerts in LillehammerSports in LillehammerLive-music in LillehammerRaves in Lillehammer