Owl is the duo of Oslo multi-instrumentalists Karl Bjorä and Signe Emmeluth; Mille Feuille, their first album, is based on a series of live recordings made over three days in a school building converted to an artists’ space.
The album title is a reference to Owl’s interest in creating music of multi-layered textures, which the two weave from the separate threads of saxophone, electric guitar, percussion, recorders and electronics. These individual elements often appear as ornaments or embellishments of an unheard melody—an improvised periphery around an imaginary center. At other times the center asserts itself in no uncertain terms as an expressionistic saxophone cadenza or resonant, carillon-like guitar chords chosen for sonority rather than for harmonic function.
A promising debut indeed.
Daniel Barbiero
Avant Music News 