Time Is A Blind Guide - Off Stillness Thomas Strønen

• 1 Memories of Paul 05:08
• 2 Season 06:31
• 3 Fall 07:18
• 4 Tuesday 03:23
• 5 Cubism 04:06
• 6 Dismissed 06:47
• 7 In Awe of Stillness 07:52
• Total Runtime 41:05

Info for Time Is A Blind Guide - Off Stillness

There’s a rare acoustic alchemy at play in Time Is A Blind Guide. Personnel changes have guided and co-shaped the musical character of Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen’s ensemble and on the group’s third recording we experience a slight shift in the line-up, with Leo Svensson Sander replacing Lucy Railton on cello. The new voice blends seamlessly into the quietly breathing ensemble sound, with a sparse but precise Ayumi Tanaka navigating her way empathetically across the keyboard, responsive to Strønen’s percussive layers, Ole Morten Vågan’s bending double bass work and Håkon Aase’s lyrical violin accounts. At times the group’s three string instruments make up a firm trio-unit that enters into thoughtful dialogue with piano and percussion, while for the majority of the record, the group’s pulse works as a whole, with each instrument dynamically gliding in and out of the picture.

“With this ensemble, it’s rather about taking away than bringing more into the music,” notes the group’s leader, adding, “one of the key tools is space. There’s a broad dynamic range; it can be really quiet and then suddenly really loud; Things might seem unexpected but I’d like to think they are also coherent, connected to the natural pulses around us in our every-day lives.”

These dynamic extremes are perhaps most prominent on “Dismissed” – a piece defined by it abruptly stumbling pulse and heavily articulated tutti phrases alternating with rapid improvised sequences – the group being at its most tight-knit. “Season” on the other hand brings lyrical softness and a tinge of folk to the mix, with the violin and cello bowing in blissful harmony. Thomas: “Leo (cello) is an improviser but also has deep background in folk – so he connects seamlessly with Håkon on violin. Their common approach to both reading the music but also adding their own improvised voices has deeply shaped the overall band sound.”

The group’s previous recording Lucus (2018) garnered rave-reviews, with the German daily Nürnberger Nachrichten pinpointing exactly the strengths that make TIABG so unique, calling the ensemble “a musically, even philosophically open-minded quintet exploring outer space somewhere between baroque and folk. Questioning, hesitating, emphasising. This is jazz full of searching, longing, devoted to brittle beauty.” The same qualities are to the fore once more, throughout the record and especially permeating on a piece like “Fall”, where Strønen and his cohorts conjure an almost chilling silence, making each motion of the bow or drum stick count. “Tuesday” reduces the action further, whereas “Cubism” introduces the first inkling of a fixed rhythmic meter in the programme.

Homages make up the expressive undercurrent that frames Off Stillness: The opening “Memories of Paul” is dedicated to not one but two legends of improvisation going by that first name, Motian and Bley – two idiosyncratics on their instruments each with an extensive history on the label. It’s a tense piece, almost void of tonality, turning the focus towards the fluttering interplay of Thomas and Ayumi, the pianist with whom the bandleader has “no need to talk about anything beforehand, because we’ve come to know each other so well. I have complete trust in her”. The piece received a different shape post-recording, as the percussionist notes, when “Manfred [Eicher] picked a take that I hadn’t even previously considered. But he understood the piece in its context, the whole of the record. Making me realise that it was the much better take for the record.”

Something of a summary of all the musical elements that precede it, “In Awe of Stillness” can be divided in two, with a textural exploration making up the first half, and a more agitated, almost tumultuous approach to interplay following in the second. But why the title Off Stillness? According to Thomas there are several reasons, though one stands out: The tribute to a formative personality of his youth (and another artist well-known in the ECM cosmos): Jon Balke.

“The title is a tribute to a formative moment in my youth,” says Thomas. “It honors the first real jazz concert I attended at the age of 15. Sneaking in through the kitchen of a cafe in Tønsberg, I was introduced to Jon Balke’s Oslo 13 by my now father-in-law, composer and musician Terje Johannesen. Their music from the album Off Balance changed the way I thought about music in general, and drumming specifically. This memory came back to me when I realized that Jon turned 70 this year.”

Recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo in 2021, and mixed in Munich in 2024, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Thomas Strønen, drums
Ayumi Tanaka, piano
Håkon Aase, violin
Leo Svensson Sander, violoncello
Ole Morten Vågan, double bass

Thomas Strønen
graduated from the Music Conservatory of Trondheim, Norway in 1999 after six years of studying jazz and composition. Since his student days he has been involved with improvised music in different contexts

He is one of Norway´s most prolific drummers, known from his involvement with Food (with Iain Ballamy), Humcrush (with Ståle Storløkken), Parish (with Bobo Stenso), Pohlitz (solo), Maria Kannegaard Trio and others, where he has often also taken on the role of writer and arranger and sometimes producer.

Strønen is a very interactive musician who likes to be involved in different musical forms and he has the ability of creating structures and textures to generate unexpected results. He is a melodic type of drummer who focuses on large forms, sounds and communication, playing both acoustic music and a set up with live electronics such as samplers and sound effects. Today Strønen has a solo record deal on the leading electronic music label Rune Grammofon, and also with his band Parish, on German label ECM.

As a composer, Strønen has contributed (either as main or co-composer) on almost all of his released records so far, more then thirty-five altogether. He has also contributed on several commissioned works for festivals (e.g. the Bath and Cheltenham Jazz festival and Ultima comptemporary music festival) and radio. (e.g. the BBC, NRK, Deutsche Rundfunk, Swedish Radio, among others).

He has played with musicians such as Bobo Stenson (S), Iain Ballamy (UK), Tomasz Stanko (PL), Evan Parker (UK), Tim Harries (UK), Bill McHenry (USA), Lars Danielsson (S), David Tronzo (USA), Koichi Makigami (JP), Ernst Reijseger (NL), Chris Batchelor (UK), Eric Vloeimans (NL), Mattias Ståhl (S), Joakim Milder (S), Fredrik Ljungkvist (S), Christian Spering (S), David Stackenas (S), Staffan Svendsson (S), Joe Williamson (Can), Francois Houle (Can), Martin Kuchen (S), Magnus Lindgren (S), Phil Bancroft (UK), Tunji Bejer (GE), Ståle Storløkken, Bjørnar Andresen, Vidar Johansen, Knut Reiersrud, Iver Kleive, Silje Nergaard, Tore Brunborg, Christian Wallumrød, Trygve Seim, Arve Henriksen, Stian Carstensen, Cikada, and others.

Thomas has toured Europe, Asia and Canada during the last few years with the bands mentioned above, and also with Ståhls Blå (with Swedish musicians Joakim Milder, Filip Augustson and Mattias Ståhl), Phil Bancroft Quartet (with British musicians Mike Walker, Steve Watts) and Maria Kannegaard trio (comprising Ole Morten Vågan). His festival appearances include Moldejazz, Oslo Jazzfestival, Ungjazz, Maijazz, Bylarm, Vossajazz, Nattjazz, Soddjazz, Trondheim Jazzfestival, Kongsberg Jazz, Dølajazz, Montreal Jazzfestival (Can), Vancouver Jazzfestival (Can), Winnipeg Jazzfestival Can), Edmonton Jazzfestival (Can), Toronto Jazzfestival (Can), Victoria Jazzfestival (Can), Ottawa Jazzfestival (Can), Calgary Jazzfestival (Can), Birningham Jazzfestival (UK), Cheltenham Jazzfestival (UK), Bath Jazzfestival (UK), Brighton Jazzfestival (UK), Edinburgh Jazzfestival (GB), Largs Jazzfestival (GB), Exeter Jazzfestival (UK), Leeds Jazzfestival (UK), Leverkusen Jazzfestival (Ty), Musik Triennale Köln (Ty), Aalen Jazztage (Ty), Heidelberg Jazzfestival (Ty), Beyreuth World Music Festival (Ty), København Jazzfestival (DK), Umeå - Stockholm-, Malmö- og Göteborg Jazzfestival (S), Expo (Jp) and others.

Booklet for Time Is A Blind Guide - Off Stillness