Siv Øyunn Kjenstad – drums, voice
Kit Downes – piano
Tom Challenger – saxophone
Siv and Kit met playing in Thomas Stronen’s band ‘Time is a Blind Guide’, now they embark on solo projects – together.
Øyunn is rough, refreshing, open and well-defined. Sweet melodies and delicious grooves with exciting rhythmic and harmonic quirks. Øyunn is Siv Øyunn’s musical alias and a creative play ground wherein well-defined themes are explored with spontaneity, playfulness and creativity. Tonality and rhythm follows a pattern, with references to alternative pop, nordic jazz and west-african music traditions.
“The band of the year!” – Roald Helgheim of Dagsavisen paper’s summary of the jazz year of 2015.
Obsidian is a collection of Kit Downes’ solo organ works from the eponymous album released on ECM Records. It is a musical response to volcanicity, slow processes that cause extreme reactions. A mixture of written and semi-scored/semi-improvised pieces, it focusses on the nuances and unique features of both smaller chamber organs local to rural Suffolk as well as larger grander instruments from bigger cities around the UK. It is both a study of extended techniques from instruments sometimes in states of disrepair, and a connection and adaptation of the improvised tradition of the instrument, exploring themes of duration, vibration and mechanics.
“In a world going to hell, Kit Downes is playing for the angels” – Michael J. Agovino, Village Voice