Om utgivelsen
Gol Variations – steppdans som du aldri har hørt det før!
Visste du at det finnes en steppdanstrio i Norge? One Small Step har holdt på i flere år, og er endelig ute med sitt første album Gol Variations. Steppdanser Janne Eraker, kontrabassist Roger Arntzen og felespiller Vegar Vårdal har improvisert fram vakker, spennende og groovy musikk i Gol Stavkirke – den som står i Norsk folkemuseum, altså. Audun Strype har stått for innspillingen, og har boltret seg med klangen til den tjærede trekirka fra 1884 (original oppført på 1200-tallet). Med vidt forskjellige bakgrunner leker One Small Step seg med både minimalistisk musikk, norsk folkemusikk, jazzbeslektede inspirasjoner, og selvfølgelig rytmer av alle slag. De utfordrer hverandre i samspillet og legger ut på musikalske eskapader bestående av teksturer, tonaliteter, fantasifulle forslag og utholdende strekk. Publikum blir lett med, for One Small Step skaper en upretensiøs og inviterende atmosfære.
Da One Small Step satte i gang prosessen med å spille inn sitt første album hadde de allerede i tankene å lage et album som ga plass til de lange linjene i musikken. Den opprinnelige planen var til og med å bare ha ett sammenhengende spor på hver side av en vinyl, fremfor å dele inn musikken i tradisjonelle, kortere låtlengder. Trioen måtte forlate vinylprosjektet, men har likefullt lagd en audiofil CD-utgivelse, og beholdt de langstrakte ideene. Det er til og med lagt inn ekstra tid midt i albumet, for å gi illusjon av å bytte til side B, sånn som musikken originalt var tenkt opplevd. One Small Step inviterer dermed til en episk reise i sitt univers!
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Here it finally is, the debut album of this unique Norwegian improv trio One Small Step, with tap dancer Janne Eraker (Rhythm is a Dancer, Øy), fiddle player Vegar Vårdal (Breibeint, Rusk) and Clean Feed bass player Roger Arntzen (Chrome Hill, Ballrogg). They started out as a tap / double bass duo when Janne was based in Rotterdam back in 2011, and Roger provided the harmonic base of the duo. When Vegar came along in 2016 they started the process of evolving their combined tap-string sound, leading up to their first album, recorded in the middle of the pandemic in 2021. One Small Step joined forced with sound engineer Audun Strype and video fotographer Jørn Stenersen and booked a temporary closed stave church in Oslo – the beautiful Stave Church from Gol, located at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The stave church is approximately from 1200, and was preserved from Gol when they wanted to build a new church around 1880. The amazing church, which has an fantastic interior and its amazing sounding old floor board, made Janne’s tap dance sound out of this world.
The trio spent a full day at the church, recording and filming for hours, and the result is comprised into these four epic album tracks.
The missing vinyl
The process of recording, mixing, mastering and releasing One Small Step’s debut album «Gol Variations» was at every step of the way made with the vinyl in mind as the final end product. But a combination of Covid-19 and major record label dominance has created a shortage in production materials and insane waiting time for receiving the final product, which in particular is hitting underground artists and independent labels. One Small Step has found itself in the midst of all this, and unfortunately had to abandon their long awaited dream of releasing its debut album on vinyl. However, the album’s transition into the CD format was made with an audiophile experience in mind, still portraying the main idea of the music organized for the two sides of a vinyl, even making some extra silence between track three and four, to give the illusion of changing the vinyl side to side B, how this music originally was intended to be experienced. We think we have made a beautiful “vinyl”-CD – album experience, and we hope you will enjoy it too! Cheers, Janne, Vegar and Roger.
Musikere
Janne Eraker - Stepdanser
Vegar Vårdal - Felespiller
Roger Arntzen - Kontrabass
