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Tona Serenad

Matti Bye 'This Forgotten Land'

£18.99

Tona Serenad

Matti Bye 'This Forgotten Land'

£18.99

Sold out
Bye has been best known as one of Sweden's most sought-after film composers, working on scores not only for contemporary but also vintage silent movies. In 2014 he received two of the three nominations for Best Original Music Award at Sweden's Guldbaggen.
He's recorded a number of solo works, too, not least 2010's Drömt and 2013's Bethanien. This Forgotten Land , produced by Joel Danell offers a deeply atmospheric experience, steeped in nostalgia and yet thrillingly contemporary.

Opener 'Melt' indicates what's to come, with its muffled tones and subdued sense of foreboding. At other times - such on 'Underneath The Silence' - one can hear the influence of Debussy. On 'Absence', the creaking of Bye's keyboard pedals is intrinsic to the atmosphere of his rippling melody, while 'Into The Haze' and 'Cascading Sun' and 'Empty Streets / Piano Street' reveal his affection for circus music and other archaic styles. Incongruous sounds audible in the background are essential to his compositions.

When he was 20, Stockholm's celebrated Cinematheque contacted Bye about playing music for silent films. 'Silent film music was like a blank spot on the music map, but I recognised the freedom I'd have as a musician, and the force of the poetry in these forgotten images.' As his reputation spread, Bye recognised that he'd stumbled on a singularly romantic style. 'I started out as a piano improviser,' he says, 'and suddenly I realised that I'm a composer.'

This Forgotten Land looks set to expand Bye's reach. Peculiarly otherworldly, serenely haunting, and utterly unforgettable, its melodies linger long after its conclusion, their atmosphere a magical mist. Out of time, but just in time, it confirms Matti Bye as a vital composer of visionary, cinematic scope.

Quotes:
'Spooked slow motion circus mannerisms conjure a mad whirligig at the end of time. Ambient traces of Debussy and Satie inform his piano.' Uncut

'Haunting beautiful and ethereal, this is a wonderful album from a truly distinctive and singular visionary.' Future Music

'His album is a treat. Echoing piano is at its core but there's a spooked vibe, throughout. Not horror filmic, more like you'd wandered into the past by accident, or come across a derelict building that once used to be alive with voices and laughter. Bye musters his own uncanny musical world, a forgotten land, indeed.' The Arts Desk

'His studio is an analogue world of synths, pianos, celesta, Mellotron and organs, and his music alludes to the strange, romantic mood you get when you hear old merry go rounds, or mechanical instruments in small amusements parks, and abandoned places.' The Wire

'Channels everything from eerie midways to the manic Swordfishtrombones era of Tom Waits.' Self-Titled

'Hushed atmospherics are underpinned by superbly fluid musicality. A work in perpetual evolution, it welcomes you in via meditative, inward citations.' Clash

"Full of haunting piano dynamics, electronic edges and lots of space.' Hi Fi World

Tracklisting:
1.Melt
2.Absence
3.Of Dawn
4. Silence
5. Into The Haze
6.Galloping Waves
7.Loneliness of Earth
8.Piano Street
9.Cascading Sun
10.Forest In The Sea
11.Teo

Release Date: 10/11/2017