Caravan
Øystein Sevåg
In 1999 Sevåg moved to Ihringen, Germany, after 15 years in Bogen in Norway. He sought to reset and find a fresh musical start. He lived in Ihringen for seven years, and Caravan is the only album from this periode. This is largely a “live in studio” recording, featuring the quintet Øystein Sevåg / Bendik Hofseth / Eivind Aarset / Audun Erlien / Paolo Vinaccia. The quintet was recorded in Oslo in 2004. The string trio Maria Eisenburger (violine), Annette Schmidt (viola) and Ute Petersilge (cello), as well as Lakki Patey (acoustic guitar) and vocalist Elin Synnøve Bråthen were recorded in Ihringen, Germany. Here Sevåg edited, mixed and finalized the album in 2005.
Performers:
Øystein Sevåg – keyboards
Bendik Hofseth – saxophone
Eivind Aarset – electric guitar
Lakki Patey – acoustic guitar
Audun Erlien – bass guitar
Paolo Vinaccia – drums and percussion
Elin Synnøve Bråthen – vocals
Maria Eisenburger – violine
Anette Schmidt – viola
Ute Petersilge – cello
All music composed by Øystein Sevåg
Full album credits
Recorded at Siddhartha Studios, Ihringen, Germany, and Musikkloftet, Oslo, Norway 2004 – 2005.
Recording engineer: Øystein Sevåg (Siddhartha Studios) and Vidar Lunden (Musikkloftet).
Mixed by Øystein Sevåg at Siddhartha Studios.
Produced by Øystein Sevåg.
Cover art and layout: Nils Arne Brekke.
Words
Shaken by the Iraq War in 2003, Sevåg wrote lyrics for his music for the first time. He found three lines to be sufficient. These are sung by the Norwegian vocalist Elin Synnøve Bråthen on Caravan‘s penultimate composition, Seen from Above.
Musical Architecture
The final track on Caravan, The Code, is a contrapuntal work constructed almost entirely from thematic elements taken from the other tracks on the album. Melodic fragments from all the compositions are played forwards, backwards (retrograde), or upside down (inversion), sometimes individually, but often several at once. While it is not necessarily easy to recognize the themes from the original compositions in the new context, Sevåg’s idea is that this musical tapestry helps create a sense of unity and coherence of the whole work, even when it is not consciously perceived.
Ihringen, Germany, where Sevåg lived from 1999 to 2005.