Posts tagged Biosphere

Interview with Phonophani

Phonophani is Espen Sommer Eide from Bergen. He will perform at Hyperrhythm at the Bimhuis during the Amsterdam Dance Event on Thursday 21 October, with Oval and Mike Slott. Juha asked Espen a few questions via e-mail, and Espen set a new record by responding within an hour.

Juha Hello Espen, how are you doing? What are things up north?

Phonophani Hi Juha. As you know winter is coming fast. Have to work hard before the snow brings isolation.

Juha How much time are you currently spending on making music, and could you describe how you work?

Phonophani I am right now in a working period, so I pretty much think, play, make and eat music 8 days of the week. I am lucky to have a studio at a place called Bergen Center of Electronic Arts, where I have access to all sorts of equipment. Some days I am working in the sound studio, other times I build instruments on the work-bench. As you know I usually design and build my own instruments. A lot of time goes into this. This is a two way process: I learn to play the instrument while building it, and vice versa.

Juha Some people may know you as one half of Norwegian duo-and-sometimes-trio Alog, that releases taylor-made albums on the celebrated label Rune Grammofon. What is Alog up to these days?

Phonophani We are meeting up in various studios in Norway and Sweden (Dag-Are, my collaborator lives in Sweden) and recording a lot of different sketches for the future. So far I don´t want to promise any specific timeframe, but I hope there will be a new album at the end of this. And so far it sounds like it will be our best work so far! (of course)

Juha With Alog you have played at the Bimhuis. What did you think of the venue?

Phonophani I really enjoyed it a lot. Maybe it was one of our best concerts. Looking forward to having a go at it solo!

Juha Phonophani is your solo project. What does Phonophani stand for?

Phonophani I started making electronic music in Tromsø in the end of the 90s, and had made one track (“I.F.A” from my debut) that I played to Geir “Biosphere” Jenssen at a party. He surprised me by saying that I had to make 9 more and then he would release it as an album. So then I needed a name. It became Phonophani as I was studying ancient Greek language at the time, and it would mean something like “Sound becoming vision”. Phonophani stands for everything that I find fascinating with music. I want it to be limitless regarding any particular style or such. I make each song a new direction.

Juha What can we expect from Phonophani at the Bimhuis?

Phonophani Expect the unexpected. I can reveal that I will play my accordeon instrument Concertinome, that was heavily used on my latest album. The rest will be a surprise!

Juha You are going to work with Pierre Bastien in France end of this year. What are you planning to do?

Phonophani I hope to develop some new instruments for this show and we will combine forces for the first time. I expect our quite different approaches to instrument-building will fit together in surprising ways. I expect to learn a lot from Pierre - a true master builder.

Juha Thank you Espen, I look forward to hearing you play again.

Listen to Phonophani’s new album ‘Kreken’ on Spotify. Follow Espen Sommer Eide on Twitter.