Heliographs

Musician, record producer and author Erik Honor+- (born 1966) has contributed as a musician and producer to more than 50 records with artists as diverse as David Sylvian, Eivind Aarset, Arve Henriksen and Brian Eno/Peter Schwalm. Heliographs is, astonishingly, his first solo project, and this is a well-integrated and personal debut album that opens up a complete world of sound that the listener can hardly bear to leave behind. Most of Heliographs was recorded in Honor+-'s home studio in Oslo, but much of the source material consists of samples that were taken from concerts and live remixes. In the early 2000s Erik Honor+- had three books published. According to him, the titles and narrative on Heliographs were derived from elements in the first novel he published, Orakelveggen. Many people associate Erik Honor with the Punkt Festival and Honor's collaborative partner Jan Bang. They are both artistic directors, and have known each other and worked together since they were teenagers. In 2005, together with Bang, Honor+- established the Punkt Festival in Kristiansand, where concerts that have just taken place are remixed live in another room. The idea is to improvise with sampling. In recent years Punkt Festival spin-offs have taken place in Paris, London, Tallinn, Wroclaw and several cities in Germany. A long list of Honor+-'s regular collaborators from Norwegian improvisational music's top echelon appear on Heliographs, including Ingar Zach (Huntsville, Dans Les Arbres), Eivind Aarset, Jan Bang and Arve Henriksen, in addition to the Dutch violinist Jeffrey Bruinsma from Zapp 4. What really stands out is vocalist and improviser Sidsel Endresen's contribution, which becomes something like a running theme throughout the album. On Heliographs, Honor's sure hand leads US through everything from lovely, undulating, soaring improvisation to jogging, electronic ambient and sample-based chamber music. This is introvert music with a bite, which is at the same time very direct. Highly recommended! The album will be released both as a CD and as a 180 gram LP in 500 copies with a gatefold sleeve and a CD included.