Oak or Rock

Phonophani is multi-instrumentalist and digital electronics expert Espen Sommer Eide. Born in 1972 in Oslo, Sommer Eide has been playing music in one form or another since childhood; for the last decade his priority has been computer music. In 1998 he released his first, now deleted, album Phonophani on the Biophon label run by Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere). His second album, Genetic Engineering (RCD 2016) was released by Rune Grammofon in 2001 to critical acclaim. He is also a member of Alog, the duo with two albums on Rune Grammofon (Red Shift Swing from 1999 and Duck-Rabbit from 2001). It's difficult to place Phonophani in today's musical landscape, Espen himself says that Oak or Rock is all about rediscovering the great mystery of music. Through dissecting the sound of ordinary or 'real' instruments and dissolving melodies into their elementary particles, he seeks to excavate the 'ur' music itself. These sounds are often sampled and manipulated using software designed and made by himself, a keen programmer who prefers this to the so-called industry standards. The title itself refers to mysterious connections between material things.