Rino Sivathas: Speak Volumes

Which country has the highest proportion of outstanding drummers relative to its total population? A difficult exam question, but by rough estimate, the number of drummers in Norway (really a lot of them), relative to its population (really a small one), makes it an obvious contender.

Those who follow the scene have heard of Veslemøy Narvesen, and perhaps Øyvind Leite, Hans Hulbækmo and August Glännestrand, to stop at a square whose corners are arranged in reverse alphabetical order. But one could stack a few cubes and build a small pyramid.

Speak Volumes is Rino Sivathas' debut album. He appeared on Light.Sentence (Sonic Transmissions Records, 2023) with the Joakim Rainer Trio, an album with a pronounced Nordic sound and Thelonious Monk-like and Chick Corea-like angularities. Sivathas showed a varied sonic palette there, elevated by his cymbal work. Since 2018, he has also organized the famous jam sessions at Moldejazz 2026, where he frequently sits behind the drum set and brings a complex drive emerging from the shadow of Tony Williams.

He had kept this well hidden. Here we discover Sivathas in a project that matured over 10 years, blending jazz, electronics, pop and hip-hop, composed entirely by him. He presents it as a synthesis of the influences of that period. He was joined on this journey by Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (saxophone, electronics), Kai von der Lippe (keyboards, synthesizers), and Andreas Svabø (bass).

Sivathas trained in the jazz program at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, perhaps explaining his particular musicality and a taste for solos integrated into the collective playing.

Sivathas explained that, not being a pianist (like many drummers, beginning with Art Blakey, Jack DeJohnette or Antonio Sanchez), and therefore not having the experience of harmonies falling into place by themselves under his fingers, he worked on the harmonic aspects of his compositions with particular care. These expansive compositions generate atmospheres shaped first by von der Lippe's synthesizers, then chiselled by Nyberg's velvety saxophone solos, and deeply anchored by Svabø's bass.

Sivathas' style gives drums and cymbals a singularly equal footing. When the drumming is prominent, such as on "Lotus" or "Clouds," the two balance across two levels: the solid Earth marked by the drums, and the sky lit by the cymbals. On "Gold," light percussion joins with the cymbals in this counterpoint. "Boxhead" is a beautiful composition which, without any stated intention, develops a melody with pentatonic echoes of the minor Tizita scale from the highlands of Ethiopia. Very enjoyable.

Norway's great drummers are highly versatile, and Sivathas fits into that lineage. He builds distinctive sonic spaces, venturing confidently into elegant binary and polyrhythmic regions.