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LEAGUS
Their second album Naimaka is due for release on Camo January 25th 2019. Naimakka is a small an extremely cold place in the far northern part of Sweden. This remote place housed Herborg's family on her father's side in the 19th century. As well as being a euphonious title, Naimaka also refers to the Sami flavour of LEAGUS` music. Naimaka shows a larger and more constructed side of the band as this record was recorded with to external musicians; drummers Wetle Holte and Christer Jørgensen. Pieces with more traditional structures and compositional techniques is merged together with the free musical language LEAGUS is known for in the past.
Herborg Rundberg (b.1974) studied classical music and jazz/pop/rock at the Arctic University of Norway. Her commissioned work for the Riddu Riđđu festival resulted in her solo-debut (Árbi released 2010) as a pianist and composer. Besides LEAGUS Herborg is also working with various other artists and bands located i Tromsø, such as Mara & The Inner Strangeness. LEAGUS started out as Herborg's main project as a part of her Master Studies in performing arts in Tromsø.
Kristian Svalestad Olstad (b.1985) studied jazz/pop/rock at the Arctic Univesity of Norway between 2005-2013. As well as being involved as a freelance musician and studio-technician in several musical acts in various genres, his main focus is the music within the improvised scene in Norway working with bands like LEAGUS, Kol, MØRK and Eter amongst others. Kristian is also the co-founder of the record label CAMO together with Benjamin Mørk.
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LEAGUS: Naimaka
by Mark Sullivan
The Norwegian duo LEAGUS is made up of pianist Herborg Rundberg and guitarist Kristian Svalestad Olstad. The pair's first album Lea Áigi (CAMO, 2016) was entirely played and sung by the two of them. Naimaka finds them joined by two drummers, Wetle Holte and Christer Jørgensen. The music is still based on a free approach featuring Kristian's extended guitar and the influence of sami music, now with added rhythmic impulse and structure. The album takes its name from the small, ...
read moreLEAGUS (Herborg Rundberg & Kristian Svalestad Olstad): Lea Áigi
by Mark Sullivan
LEAGUS is a Norwegian duo made up of pianist Herborg Rundberg and guitarist Kristian Svalestad Olstad. Together they make music that ranges from minimalist atmospherics to frenetic free-noise. Rundberg has studied both classical music and jazz/pop/rock, and has worked with coastal sami traditions. Olstad studied jazz/pop/rock, and is involved in improvisation and studio recording (he mixed the album). His nontraditional, highly electronically modified sound puts him in the company of other Norwegian modernists like Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus. He ...
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