Biography
Born in Los Angeles during 1956, guitarist Raoul Björkenheim spent the ensuing quarter century shuttling between Finland and the United States. Upon completing his studies at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, he relocated to Helsinki and began folding ethnic and electronic elements into performances with an assortment of ensembles.
He launched Krakatau as a splinter project from Edward Vesala’s Sound & Fury, the group he was then touring with. Their debut album, Ritual, appeared in 1988; Björkenheim’s guitar, steeped in feedback and distortion, was set against paired horns echoing Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler while two drummers anchored the rhythm section.
For the follow-up, Alive, he reduced the lineup to a trio, steering the music toward a rock-oriented sound. The first pair of records circulated solely inside Finland, yet the subsequent releases Volition and Matinale were issued by Germany’s ECM imprint and reached international audiences.
Cuneiform reissued Ritual on CD in 1996, appending fifteen minutes of previously unheard material and initiating an intermittent yet enduring association with the label. Two years afterward, Björkenheim joined guitarist Nicky Skopelitis on Revelator, a Bill Laswell production that also featured Bill Buchen’s work on tabla, log drum, and water drum.
His next Cuneiform project, the broodingly titled Apocalypso, was scored for thirty guitars, eight basses, and four drum kits, all performed by Björkenheim himself; the album surfaced one week after the 9/11 attacks. Despite its unsettling timing, it earned broad critical praise and received a 2002 Nordic Music Council (NOMUS) Prize nomination in Scandinavia. That same year he formed the Scorch Trio with bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, releasing their self-titled debut on Rune Grammofon, then followed it in 2003 with the duo recording Shadowglow alongside Austrian composer and drummer Lukas Ligeti on TUM. Later in 2003 he issued the solo CD-R 14 Days on his own imprint. Scorch Trio’s second studio album, Luggumt, arrived in 2004.
Over the next three years Björkenheim appeared as soloist with the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Tampere Philharmonic, writing works for each ensemble. He also composed, arranged, recorded, and performed alongside artists such as Uusi Fantasia and Marzi Nyman.
Activity surged again in 2007 when TUM issued The Sky Is Ruby, a UMO Jazz Orchestra project featuring Juhani Aaltonen and Iro Haarla, together with Scorch Trio’s Live in Finland and their third studio album Brolt. The following year saw the release of DMG @ The Stone, Vol. 2, documenting a trio with William Parker and Hamid Drake, and the debut album by the group Box, comprising Morgan Ågren, Ståle Storløkken, and Trevor Dunn; both discs drew widespread acclaim.
After an extended tour and subsequent hiatus, Björkenheim reemerged forcefully in 2010. Scorch Trio delivered its fourth studio recording, Melaza; the UMO Jazz Orchestra presented UMO Plays the Music of Raoul Björkenheim: Primal Mind; electronic composer Paul Schütze released the archival Third Site Live 1999 featuring himself, Björkenheim, Clive Bell, and Simon Hopkins; and Björkenheim contributed a track to Clean Feed’s compilation I Never Meta Guitar: Solo Guitars for the 21st Century.
In 2011 Rune Grammofon issued Made in Norway, the final Scorch Trio album, which included special guest Mars Williams. That year Björkenheim also joined Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren on the widely praised Blixt for Cuneiform, while DMG released the trio date Kalabalik pairing him with guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Over the ensuing three years he divided his time between Norway and Finland, touring and collaborating with additional musicians.
Björkenheim introduced his eCsTaSy quartet on Cuneiform in 2015, with bassist Jori Huhtala, drummer Markku Ounaskari, and saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen; the group toured extensively for a year. Following a brief pause he appeared on both volumes of Sky Music: A Tribute to Terje Rypdal in 2017, participated in Inaugural Sound Clash (For the 2 Americas) alongside Hideo Yamaki, Laswell, Mike Sopko, and Dominic James, and released Beyond, the debut recording by the Raoul Björkenheim Triad featuring drummer Ilmari Heikinheimo and bassist Ville Rauhala, again on Cuneiform.
He launched Krakatau as a splinter project from Edward Vesala’s Sound & Fury, the group he was then touring with. Their debut album, Ritual, appeared in 1988; Björkenheim’s guitar, steeped in feedback and distortion, was set against paired horns echoing Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler while two drummers anchored the rhythm section.
For the follow-up, Alive, he reduced the lineup to a trio, steering the music toward a rock-oriented sound. The first pair of records circulated solely inside Finland, yet the subsequent releases Volition and Matinale were issued by Germany’s ECM imprint and reached international audiences.
Cuneiform reissued Ritual on CD in 1996, appending fifteen minutes of previously unheard material and initiating an intermittent yet enduring association with the label. Two years afterward, Björkenheim joined guitarist Nicky Skopelitis on Revelator, a Bill Laswell production that also featured Bill Buchen’s work on tabla, log drum, and water drum.
His next Cuneiform project, the broodingly titled Apocalypso, was scored for thirty guitars, eight basses, and four drum kits, all performed by Björkenheim himself; the album surfaced one week after the 9/11 attacks. Despite its unsettling timing, it earned broad critical praise and received a 2002 Nordic Music Council (NOMUS) Prize nomination in Scandinavia. That same year he formed the Scorch Trio with bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, releasing their self-titled debut on Rune Grammofon, then followed it in 2003 with the duo recording Shadowglow alongside Austrian composer and drummer Lukas Ligeti on TUM. Later in 2003 he issued the solo CD-R 14 Days on his own imprint. Scorch Trio’s second studio album, Luggumt, arrived in 2004.
Over the next three years Björkenheim appeared as soloist with the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Tampere Philharmonic, writing works for each ensemble. He also composed, arranged, recorded, and performed alongside artists such as Uusi Fantasia and Marzi Nyman.
Activity surged again in 2007 when TUM issued The Sky Is Ruby, a UMO Jazz Orchestra project featuring Juhani Aaltonen and Iro Haarla, together with Scorch Trio’s Live in Finland and their third studio album Brolt. The following year saw the release of DMG @ The Stone, Vol. 2, documenting a trio with William Parker and Hamid Drake, and the debut album by the group Box, comprising Morgan Ågren, Ståle Storløkken, and Trevor Dunn; both discs drew widespread acclaim.
After an extended tour and subsequent hiatus, Björkenheim reemerged forcefully in 2010. Scorch Trio delivered its fourth studio recording, Melaza; the UMO Jazz Orchestra presented UMO Plays the Music of Raoul Björkenheim: Primal Mind; electronic composer Paul Schütze released the archival Third Site Live 1999 featuring himself, Björkenheim, Clive Bell, and Simon Hopkins; and Björkenheim contributed a track to Clean Feed’s compilation I Never Meta Guitar: Solo Guitars for the 21st Century.
In 2011 Rune Grammofon issued Made in Norway, the final Scorch Trio album, which included special guest Mars Williams. That year Björkenheim also joined Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren on the widely praised Blixt for Cuneiform, while DMG released the trio date Kalabalik pairing him with guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Over the ensuing three years he divided his time between Norway and Finland, touring and collaborating with additional musicians.
Björkenheim introduced his eCsTaSy quartet on Cuneiform in 2015, with bassist Jori Huhtala, drummer Markku Ounaskari, and saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen; the group toured extensively for a year. Following a brief pause he appeared on both volumes of Sky Music: A Tribute to Terje Rypdal in 2017, participated in Inaugural Sound Clash (For the 2 Americas) alongside Hideo Yamaki, Laswell, Mike Sopko, and Dominic James, and released Beyond, the debut recording by the Raoul Björkenheim Triad featuring drummer Ilmari Heikinheimo and bassist Ville Rauhala, again on Cuneiform.
Albums