Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard - Hibernacle (LP)

Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard has background as a bass player in such diverse bands as Ich Bin N!ntendo, Monkey Plot and Delish, so it is clear that this is a musician of a special kind. In addition to being an exploratory and steady instrumentalist, Nergaard is also a particularly skilled producer and technician who has recorded and/or mixed seven of the records that have so far been released on Motvind Records, as well as on cool labels such as SOFA, Wandelweiser and Astral Spirits. When he suddenly lifted the veil with a kind of "hi-fi meets low-fi outsider art-rock with rural beats and primitive noise record", this was an offer too good to refuse.

Hibernacle consists of eight songs improvised and composed around recordings of Nergaard's initial explorations of a malfunctioning Korg X911 guitar synthesizer bought in a music shop in Fez, a Norwegian-made acoustic guitar from the 60s found at a recycling station in Oslo, his grandfather's fiddle, a Roland CR- 68 drum machine and an SP-404 sampler. In addition, he plays double bass, electric bass, electric guitar, drums, piano, electric piano, and electronics.

It shines through that Nergaard is a sound researcher. In working on the record, he has studied the potential of simple starting points, such as uncritical improvisations and noodling with instruments and machines that he is apparently trying for the first time. In this way, the creation process itself has been defining for the finished expression on the record. Experimentation with non-traditional microphone techniques also helps to give character to the sound image. Good ideas and an urge to explore have culminated in the discovery of fascinating sound phenomena, such as the acoustic sound of an electric guitar being pressed against a coffee table. Through a meticulous production where layer upon layer has been glued to each other, Hibernacle has become a wonderful microcosm.

But wait! There are more musicians playing along here. Norway is blessed with many inspiring drummers and Nergaard has received good contributions from some of them - Dag Erik Knedal Andersen, Jan Martin Gismervik and Hans Hulbækmo. The three are different and unique rhythmists who add life and glue to this record.

A little about each song. The record opens with "Antenna", a searching piece of music that somehow captures the signals that make up the material we return to throughout the production. "TV-ornament" and "Ordinary Blurry" are based around improvisations on a CR-68 drum machine and electric guitar played straight into an 80s hifi spring reverb. The results can be reminiscent of bright, contemplative nights. "All of a sudden" revolves around Dag Erik Knedal Andersen's drumming of a sophisticated hyperactive calibre as well as a mono recording of an improvisation where a defective and self-oscillating guitar synth began to live its own life when it was fed with feedback, drum machines and noise. "Flutter at The Farmhouse", one of the more eclectic tracks on the disc, contains both messy electric bass outbursts recorded in a blasted talkback channel, an iPhone recording of Hans Hulbækmo and a Eurasian blue tit. "Vehicles" started with an improvisation on an SP-404 sampler and was further developed with various recordings of repetitive ideas on acoustic guitar. It is quite possible to sit in some kind of vehicle and step on the gas with this song on the stereo. The title track, which you can read more about later in this press release, creeps forward like a beaver along the riverbank in a misty moorland, only lit by the occasional star and perhaps a satellite. Most space-expanding balafon playing by Jan Martin Gismervik. "Dreams", which closes the album, is a gorgeous three-part composition with a mysterious intro, a nice and anxiety-relieving guitar part and finally the sound of mechanical rain.

Like the music, the title Hibernacle manifested itself somewhere between an unexplored input source and the hunt for its potential. Nergaard found a sheet that someone had lost in the Botanical Garden on Tøyen. On the sheet was a series of numbers. When he searched for the number series online, the first thing that appeared were astronomical coordinates from The Air Almanac, calculated for nautical navigation. When he converted the numbers into letters using the periodic table, the letters CNeLiHeArBScBCHeBeH appeared. Typing these letters into a scrabble word generator, the word Hibernacle came up (the generator had only used the first 10 letters and discarded the rest. Typing the last 9 letters, the generator came up with the 7-letter word "chebecs", which must become the constructed plural form of "chebec", common transcription of the song of the Least Flycatcher, Empidonax minimus).

Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard has a varied career as a musician, technician and, together with Natali Garner, owner of the very useful production site called Flerbruket between Løken and Hemnes in Aurskog-Høland. What strikes us about this record is the combination of conceptual artistic exploration and elegantly fascinating music. The sounds make us think, feel, and see. What more could one wish for?

Cat.nr: MOT20LP
Release date: June 30, 2023

Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard plays double bass, electric bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, fiddle, electronics, sampler, drum machine, drums, percussion, piano, and electric piano.
Dag Erik Knedal Andersen plays drums and percussion on Ordinary Blurry, “All of a sudden”, Vehicles and Hibernacle.
Jan Martin Gismervik plays drums and percussion on Vehicles, Dreams and Hibernacle.
Hans Hulbækmo plays drums and percussion on Flutter at The Farmhouse.

Recorded and produced by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard at Flerbruket, OPA, Skarpretterboligen and Monradsgate 3D between November 2019 and February 2022.

Mixed by Kyrre Laastad at Øra Studio, March 2022.
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu, February 2023.

Artwork by Marcus Ivarsson.
Cover design by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard.