"A house is something that is so deeply temporary, yet it can hold so much energy. How do we carry or leave behind those energies while transitioning into new spaces? How does each space we occupy for some time shape us and how do we tear ourselves away from it and its influence once it’s time to go? These are some of the core questions behind Sev Sorensen’s new album for mappa, ‘Phantom Rooms’ – it’s a record about movement, change, transformation, family, juxtapositions… but most of all, home.
Sev Sorensen was reflecting a lot on their childhood home in rural Kansas, USA while working on this music. The album could be characterised by a familial, chamber feel and both of Sev Sorensen’s brothers, Ryan and Nyal Ruehlen, make an appearance on ‘Phantom Rooms’, among other instrumentalists. Using a wide palette of sounds – Sev Sorensen alone in charge of keyboards, software instruments, voice, electronics, percussion, trumpet, guitar and field recordings, in addition to guests on pedal steel, voice, chimes, saxophone and drumset – the American musician crafts music as mysterious as it is inviting. The idea behind it would be almost surrealist – ghostly rooms in houses where we live – if we all didn’t know exactly what Sev Sorensen means. Home isn’t something concrete, but it’s also not just an abstract concept. It’s a space beyond space; home in itself is a phantom room we enter. And what enables us to enter is the object of exploration here.
Sev Sorensen’s approach is playful – tracks like “Beat Bot” and “Plastic Portals” are almost fun – but also contemplative. They make thoughtful, meandering chamber music intertwined with field recordings and electronics. Reeds, strings and percussion often set the atmosphere – sometimes airy, gentle, at other points more insistent – as the music grapples with departure, instability, deep reflection and imagined future spaces. Especially in the closing “Bexar” there’s a tangible yearning for a stable home, a longing to rekindle and keep ablaze this beautiful familial connection to a physical place. It’s both music that invites to reflect and music that in itself reflects; desires, hopes and dreams." - Adam Badí Donoval
credits
released September 22, 2022
Sev Sorensen - compositions, keyboards, virtual software instruments, voice, electronics, percussion, trumpet, guitar, field recordings
Featured Artists:
Damon Dennis - pedal steel (5)
Alan Mudd - words & voice (4)
Nyal Ruehlen - voice, chimes (3)
Cecyl Ruehlen - saxophone (4,5,7)
Scott Dean Taylor - drumset (5,7)
"This album is about homes, transitioning between homes and the histories and memories of houses."
Otherworldly delights on CC Sorensen’s debut. *Twin Mirrors* calls lightly towards new agey jazz and synth greats of the 70s, but this is very much a 21st century piece, where a variety of instruments frolic around field recordings and glitchy spoken snippets. The frogs are out there playing concrète jams. You just have to find them.
*{ΡΕΘΙ}* *{V∞}* Gene Hex ● Evening of Light
A truly psychedelic jazz record, “Bloom Anubis” ventures out into uncharted territory, with ominous tones & sci-fi synths. Bandcamp New & Notable May 15, 2021
An ambitious cross-genre journey from the Richmond Avant Improv Collective, who bring in 17 (!) guest musicians to fill out their vision. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 12, 2021
this is a stunning release. so easy to be absorbed by the atmospheres of these recordings. beyond a simple capturing of these spaces, the mixing of different sonic elements lifts them to new emotional heights; a careful assemblage of environments that remain in your head and heart. ethan vaniderstine