Humcrush

Ståle Storløkken and Thomas Strønen, veterans of Norway’s experimental music scene, create abstract electronic jazz as the duo Humcrush. Their improvisations shift between sparse, otherworldly textures and exuberant passages laced with digital artifacts. Storløkken, known for his work in Supersilent and Motorpsycho, handles keyboards and electronics, occasionally routing a Fender Rhodes through guitar effects, while Strønen, co-founder of Food, supplies restless, intricate drumming. The pair launched the project via the 2004 album Humcrush, credited under their individual surnames and issued by the Norwegian avant-garde imprint Rune Grammofon. On the 2006 follow-up Hornswoggle they formally adopted the name Humcrush, then issued Rest at Worlds End in 2008. Their next recording, 2011’s Ha!, captured a live collaboration with vocalist Sidsel Endresen at Jazz Festival Willisau. Humcrush resurfaced in 2017 with Enter Humcrush, a more driving, rock-oriented set released on Shhpuma, a subsidiary of the Portuguese label Clean Feed.