Øystein Sevåg official web site

An international top-tier group of musicians from both the jazz and classical music worlds come together on this album. Emily Hultmark (former solo bassoonist with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Stockholm), plays a central role. Also joining are Sevåg’s old friends from the Global House album, such as Bendik Hofseth (sax), along with a number of other strong names.

“Visual 2” is a new milestone in the long-standing, passionate collaboration between pianist Øystein Sevåg and guitarist Lakki Patey. This is the much-awaited sequel to the acclaimed album “Visual,” named “Best Ambient Album of the Year” (1996) in the USA by Wind & Wire magazine.

The poems of the iconic swedish author Karin Boye (1900-1940) inspired Benedicte Torget and Øystein Sevåg to create this awardwinning album.

“This album is the distillation of all the spaciousness, beauty, sophistication, simplicity, richness, delicacy, melody, spirit and heart that I’ve felt from Oystein’s music since I first heard his “Close Your Eyes and See” album” – Kieth G. Rowly, USA

As a reflection of a turbulent time in Sevåg’s life, he recorded these introverted solo piano improvisations in his home in Oslo during 2007. Each track was made with a single person present in the studio — a different person for each track. The album’s titles, when placed in sequence, becomes a poem; the story that the album is based on.

Øystein Sevåg extends his fusion of Jazz, Ambient and World music into the Classical dimension, when the Philharmonia Orchestra of London is joining Sevåg’s Global House Band, violinist Maria Eisenburger, and a fine group of German classical musicians. It took 68 musicians, recorded in 7 studios in 3 countries to create this award winning album.

In 1995 Øystein Sevåg further builds his reputation with Global House as one of the most daring and distinctive creators of contemporary instrumental music. He weaves a brilliant multi-cultural tapestry, integrating musicians and influences from Europe, Brazil, Cuba, Africa, and Australia. This album fuses intricate layers of jazz, classical, ambient, and world music into a dramatic soundscape that denies classification.

Inspired by nature and the power of silence, Lakki Patey and Øystein Sevåg invites the listener into an ambient, meditative journey with their graceful guitar-keyboard duets. Visual was named “Best Ambient Album of the Year” in 1996 by Wind & Wire magazine (USA). Tracks from Visual are licensed to Café del Mar and many other compilations.

Link came out on march 8th. 1993, and was Øystein Sevåg’s first album on the Windham Hill label.

Unlike all other albums by Øystein Sevåg, the title of this album emerged many years before he began working on the music itself. High up in the mountains of the Italian village of Triora, the title “Close Your Eyes and See” emerged as a premonition and a guiding principle for his work in the years to come.