MATTI BYE — Between Darkness and White Snow (Northern Electronics)
The prolific Swedish pianist and composer Matti Bye has long been associated with Northern Electronics, appearing on well-enumerated compilations and collaboration-rich works. This is the first time he presents his own full-length recording with the label.
'Between Darkness and White Snow' captures Bye's elemental radiance in four vignettes. Recorded on a 1926 Steinway Grand Piano through an EMS Synthi A, 'Between Darkness and White Snow' renders the perplexity of polarity with a grave assembly of textural phenomena and lyrical figures. As ephemeral harmonic mazes wilt into subdued distortion, we are left with a tentative invitation to gaze into the pooling material of Bye's compositions.
Written, recorded and produced by Matti Bye in Fårö, Sweden 2022.
The recordings were made on a 1926 Steinway Grand Piano through the EMS Synthi A, recorded onto tape with Nagra IV S.
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"Matti Bye is mainly associated with his film music, but his work does perfectly well without images, something he really shows on the album Between darkness and white snow"
Photography by Matti Bye.
Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab, Rome.
Released December 11, 2023.
Video by Matti Bye