Arve Henriksen 'Places Of Worship'

Deeply rooted in the sublime geology of his Norwegian homeland, Henriksen's music has developed into something beautifully at one with natural habitats and reflecting the hybrid, cosmopolitan environments of the twenty-first century. On Places Of Worship, he inhabits the space between these two worlds, in a series of tone poems and mood pieces located around religious buildings and ruins. 

These still, silent quarters and abandoned houses of the holy can be where we experience our deepest moments of reflection, silence and occasionally fear. Making the aura of these places audible, Henriksen's haunted horn and idiosyncratic treble vocals carry an air of treading on forbidden territory, stirring up the dust of forgotten spirits.

As well as suggesting the creaking timbers and salty tang of North African ports ('Alhambra') and the whiff of Gallic scirocco ('Le Cimitière Marin'), it stirs fond memories of fellow musical souls, both alive and dead: the Miles Davis of Sketches Of Spain and Aura; the Fourth World exotica of Jon Hassell.

Arve Henriksen played in various jazz ensembles in his youth before co-forming Supersilent in 1997. His trumpet, augmented with effects and electronics, has appeared with David Sylvian, Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Balke, Terje Isungset and Iain Ballamy's Food.

With Supersilent he recently collaborated with former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
 

His own music, which has reached a new intensity on Places Of Worship, will leave you becalmed, bewildered, bewitched¦. And full of praise.