Biography
Supersilent functions as a Norwegian improvisational collective that European observers frequently label a supergroup. Its entirely spontaneous output merges a contemporary take on free jazz with ambient and industrial electronics. The ensemble’s releases appear solely under sequential numeric titles and share a signature dark, brooding yet airy intensity that shifts continuously across texture, timbre, and dynamic range, nowhere more clearly than on the 2001 album 5. Because the members maintain demanding solo schedules, the group convenes for recording and touring only sporadically, whenever a fresh approach presents itself, as it did for the 2013 release 12. That album explored harmonic ideas drawn from film scores and presented them inside dark, eerie atmospheres.
The project originated during an unplanned 1997 performance at the Bergen Jazz Festival involving master trumpeter Arve Henriksen, tape experimenter Helge Sten (known individually as Deathprod), drummer Jarle Vespestad, and keyboardist Ståle Storløkken. The four elected to keep meeting inside Sten’s studio, where they captured countless hours of tape that were later edited into the 1998 triple-CD set 1-3, a body of raw, percussive free jazz laced with electronics reminiscent of Aphex Twin. From that point forward the musicians resolved to operate strictly as a live unit: they never compose songs in advance, never rehearse, and speak to one another only during performances. Every release, including this one, contains no overdubs and receives only minimal studio treatment.
On 4 the quartet absorbed the influence of Rune Grammofon labelmate Arne Nordheim, whose electro-acoustic works share a studio-controlled kinship with Supersilent’s own dark-tinged experiments. The plainly titled 5 was assembled from more than thirty hours of concerts recorded in Oslo, London, and Bologna during 2001; Henriksen’s commanding technique surfaces prominently while conventional jazz elements surface inside the surrounding noise. Less aggressive material occupies 6, which appeared in 2003 and earned near-universal praise. Two years afterward came 7, a DVD documenting a 2004 concert that critics received as a fresh installment in the group’s evolving sound. The same year Supersilent performed at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Storløkken, already a participant in Terje Rypdal’s Skywards ensemble, persuaded his bandmates to join the celebrated guitarist for a 2007 appearance at the Moldejazz Festival. Meanwhile the collective had been recording across eight separate sessions; the resulting album 8 surfaced that year, having originally been conceived as a double package with what would become 9 but issued instead as a single disc.
In early 2009 Vespestad departed to devote more time to existing commitments, among them Tord Gustavsen’s quartet and the role of drummer in Norwegian vocalist and songwriter Silje Nergaard’s band. Supersilent carried on as a trio and further expanded its sonic palette. Near year’s end it issued 9, the first recording made without Vespestad; all three remaining members played Hammond B-3 organs during a live concert captured only months earlier. Work on a new studio album continued into 2010 and yielded the more organically conceived full-length 10, released in August. Simultaneously the vinyl-only 11 appeared, containing the material once slated as the second half of 8. Observers found 10 even more approachable than 6. After additional touring and separate projects, including several festival dates alongside former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Henriksen, Storløkken, and Sten returned to the studio in late 2013. The sessions produced 12, which intertwined nearly cinematic harmonic themes with dark, eerie atmospheres.
In 2016 the band announced its signing to the Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound and, that August, streamed the advance track “13.9.” The album 13 followed one month later. Two years afterward, convinced that further sonic colors remained to be investigated, Supersilent re-entered the studio with Deathprod serving as producer and engineer. Their goal was to extend the principle of “composition in the moment” beyond previously encountered limits, resulting in the release of 14 during the fall of 2018.
The project originated during an unplanned 1997 performance at the Bergen Jazz Festival involving master trumpeter Arve Henriksen, tape experimenter Helge Sten (known individually as Deathprod), drummer Jarle Vespestad, and keyboardist Ståle Storløkken. The four elected to keep meeting inside Sten’s studio, where they captured countless hours of tape that were later edited into the 1998 triple-CD set 1-3, a body of raw, percussive free jazz laced with electronics reminiscent of Aphex Twin. From that point forward the musicians resolved to operate strictly as a live unit: they never compose songs in advance, never rehearse, and speak to one another only during performances. Every release, including this one, contains no overdubs and receives only minimal studio treatment.
On 4 the quartet absorbed the influence of Rune Grammofon labelmate Arne Nordheim, whose electro-acoustic works share a studio-controlled kinship with Supersilent’s own dark-tinged experiments. The plainly titled 5 was assembled from more than thirty hours of concerts recorded in Oslo, London, and Bologna during 2001; Henriksen’s commanding technique surfaces prominently while conventional jazz elements surface inside the surrounding noise. Less aggressive material occupies 6, which appeared in 2003 and earned near-universal praise. Two years afterward came 7, a DVD documenting a 2004 concert that critics received as a fresh installment in the group’s evolving sound. The same year Supersilent performed at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Storløkken, already a participant in Terje Rypdal’s Skywards ensemble, persuaded his bandmates to join the celebrated guitarist for a 2007 appearance at the Moldejazz Festival. Meanwhile the collective had been recording across eight separate sessions; the resulting album 8 surfaced that year, having originally been conceived as a double package with what would become 9 but issued instead as a single disc.
In early 2009 Vespestad departed to devote more time to existing commitments, among them Tord Gustavsen’s quartet and the role of drummer in Norwegian vocalist and songwriter Silje Nergaard’s band. Supersilent carried on as a trio and further expanded its sonic palette. Near year’s end it issued 9, the first recording made without Vespestad; all three remaining members played Hammond B-3 organs during a live concert captured only months earlier. Work on a new studio album continued into 2010 and yielded the more organically conceived full-length 10, released in August. Simultaneously the vinyl-only 11 appeared, containing the material once slated as the second half of 8. Observers found 10 even more approachable than 6. After additional touring and separate projects, including several festival dates alongside former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Henriksen, Storløkken, and Sten returned to the studio in late 2013. The sessions produced 12, which intertwined nearly cinematic harmonic themes with dark, eerie atmospheres.
In 2016 the band announced its signing to the Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound and, that August, streamed the advance track “13.9.” The album 13 followed one month later. Two years afterward, convinced that further sonic colors remained to be investigated, Supersilent re-entered the studio with Deathprod serving as producer and engineer. Their goal was to extend the principle of “composition in the moment” beyond previously encountered limits, resulting in the release of 14 during the fall of 2018.
Albums
Singles
