An experimental ensemble led by guitarist and composer Kristian Enkerud Lien. Their new album Svartsymra, released on Sonic Transmissions Records (curated by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten), is an avant-garde journey through microtonality, folk, rock, contemporary, and club music. Drawing on the theories of Eivind Groven, Ben Johnston, and Harry Partch, KRISE explores sound beyond equal temperament, highlighting the character and interaction of each instrument.

The album comprises six tracks, each uniquely structured yet conceptually intertwined. Diapuls/fluxus opens with four harmonies in distinct tunings, evolving into a sonic landscape of sine waves. Nekrotek channels a „septimal death club“ atmosphere. Der ergeh stig og olieh flyg is a partly improvised solo for fretless guitar with cassette accompaniment. 161182038 deconstructs and reassembles a Norwegian gangar folk dance. Den der, red, ned is a solo for a self-made just intonation guitar, merging into a bagpipe-like synth drone. Closing track Vurg offers a rhythmic groove evoking the ancient Scandinavian lur.

Svartsymra is a construct—something that simultaneously blooms and decays. This duality is reflected in the album art: a lung or a stone, order and absurdity, lichens in tangle. It also nods to Groven’s recordings and meditations on death.

Credits: Emil Bø – trombone, Anna Ueland – retuned synth, MS20, voice; Bjørn André Syverinsen – drums; Kristian Enkerud Lien – refretted & fretless guitars, lap steel.

This concert is supported by Liveurope – the first pan-European initiative to support concert clubs in their efforts to host concerts by emerging European artists. Liveurope is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.