Release Date: 03 November 2023
Label: Found / Found Recordings
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 810135150156
Genres: Classical Avant-garde
Release Date: 03 November 2023
Label: Found / Found Recordings
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 810135150163
Genres: Classical Avant-garde
Description
One of the most compelling young artists in Iceland today, Magn?s J?hann is a musical polymath with the kind of forward-thinking vision that reverberates across the entire culture. Not only a prolific post-classical composer whose catalog includes a series of eclectic and widely acclaimed solo albums, the Reykjav?k-based musician has brought his unfettered imagination to an extraordinary scope of artistic endeavors in the past few years alone: in addition to producing and performing on hundreds of records from a dizzying spectrum of genres (hip-hop, jazz, R&B, to name a few), he's released collaborative projects with the likes of legendary jazz bassist Sk?li Sverrisson and jazz-pop singer GDRN, created a multitude of film and theater scores, and served as music director for a number of pop stars seeking to elevate their artistry and craft. Newly signed to U.S.-based record label FOUND, J?hann ultimately brings a bold new vitality and fluidity to classical music, opening the genre up to thrilling new possibilities and perspectives.
At the heart of J?hann's transcendent musicality is an unwavering devotion to the exhilarating risk and profoundly generative reward of improvisation. A near-lifelong musician who took up piano and clarinet as a young child and later studied jazz piano at the prestigious conservatory F?H/M?T, he approaches all his work with a daring sense of freedom that's duly matched by his sophisticated musicianship, preternatural timing, and highly intuitive emotionality. Along with lending a mesmerizing unpredictability to his live performance-an element that inspired The Reykjav?k Grapevine to proclaim that "if god existed he would sound like this"-that dynamic indelibly informs J?hann's creative process. "Many of my best musical ideas come from a state of flow-I could be somewhere like on a train, staring out the window, and a melody will suddenly come to me and intrigue me enough that I'll need to capture it," he reveals.
Enigmatic, ethereal, and endlessly immersive, J?hann's new album Rofnar contains some of his most exquisitely realized work to date: a suite of meditative yet wildly experimental compositions, fully affirming his capacity to immediately transport listeners into a dreamlike state of mind. His fifth solo effort and debut release for FOUND, the album takes its title from the Icelandic word for "break" or "tear apart"-a perfect reflection of his deep-rooted affinity for sonic deconstruction. "I love working with lush sounds like live piano or violin or brass instruments, then taking them apart so they become almost unrecognizable," he says. After initially composing the album's musical foundation for a theater piece by esteemed playwright Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson, J?hann spent much of lockdown reimagining and building upon that material to create an album of its own right. Featuring contributions from Bj?rk's longtime musical director Bergur ??risson (on trombone and flugelhorn) and globally renowned composer/music
Description
One of the most compelling young artists in Iceland today, Magn?s J?hann is a musical polymath with the kind of forward-thinking vision that reverberates across the entire culture. Not only a prolific post-classical composer whose catalog includes a series of eclectic and widely acclaimed solo albums, the Reykjav?k-based musician has brought his unfettered imagination to an extraordinary scope of artistic endeavors in the past few years alone: in addition to producing and performing on hundreds of records from a dizzying spectrum of genres (hip-hop, jazz, R&B, to name a few), he's released collaborative projects with the likes of legendary jazz bassist Sk?li Sverrisson and jazz-pop singer GDRN, created a multitude of film and theater scores, and served as music director for a number of pop stars seeking to elevate their artistry and craft. Newly signed to U.S.-based record label FOUND, J?hann ultimately brings a bold new vitality and fluidity to classical music, opening the genre up to thrilling new possibilities and perspectives.
At the heart of J?hann's transcendent musicality is an unwavering devotion to the exhilarating risk and profoundly generative reward of improvisation. A near-lifelong musician who took up piano and clarinet as a young child and later studied jazz piano at the prestigious conservatory F?H/M?T, he approaches all his work with a daring sense of freedom that's duly matched by his sophisticated musicianship, preternatural timing, and highly intuitive emotionality. Along with lending a mesmerizing unpredictability to his live performance-an element that inspired The Reykjav?k Grapevine to proclaim that "if god existed he would sound like this"-that dynamic indelibly informs J?hann's creative process. "Many of my best musical ideas come from a state of flow-I could be somewhere like on a train, staring out the window, and a melody will suddenly come to me and intrigue me enough that I'll need to capture it," he reveals.
Enigmatic, ethereal, and endlessly immersive, J?hann's new album Rofnar contains some of his most exquisitely realized work to date: a suite of meditative yet wildly experimental compositions, fully affirming his capacity to immediately transport listeners into a dreamlike state of mind. His fifth solo effort and debut release for FOUND, the album takes its title from the Icelandic word for "break" or "tear apart"-a perfect reflection of his deep-rooted affinity for sonic deconstruction. "I love working with lush sounds like live piano or violin or brass instruments, then taking them apart so they become almost unrecognizable," he says. After initially composing the album's musical foundation for a theater piece by esteemed playwright Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson, J?hann spent much of lockdown reimagining and building upon that material to create an album of its own right. Featuring contributions from Bj?rk's longtime musical director Bergur ??risson (on trombone and flugelhorn) and globally renowned composer/music
Tracklisting
Tracklisting
Silva Thordardottir
Magnus Johann
GR?A
GR?A
Various Artists
The Residents
The Residents
Sun Ra
Elton Dean
Soft Head
Mike Osborne Trio
Lol Coxhill
