Good morning, dear friends and unexpected stumblers. Today, I am excited to share with you a track from one of my all-time favourite duos, who have been recording since 2004. I have followed Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland from their modest beginnings as two high-school friends releasing together and independently on what, back then, was still called “net labels” to their full-fledged artistry and near-occult status following of their collaborative albums as Deaf Center and monumental solo works. Erik has rewarded his listeners not only with his particular style of experimental darkness through works as Svarte Greiner, but also by permeating that delicious aesthetic on his own independent label, Miasmah. While Otto, of course, has been a constant companion on sombre and nostalgic nights with his gorgeous solo piano releases. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with, and their new album on Sonic Pieces is a perfect testament of how these two amazing artists continue to grow together and share their gifts with us. It’s been on repeat since the imprint’s owner and curator, Monique Recknagel, sent it to me, and I’m finally happy to reveal it to you.
Deaf Center travel through quiet pathways and grand boulevards in their fourth studio album “Through Time”. Otto’s piano appears in less frequent rhythms than before, yet is felt even more as a relief in the quieter moments that contrast with Erik’s deep atmospheric worlds. There’s a searching quality within the record which feels like slow movements on the way towards something meaningful, capturing a sense of both peace and awe. The subject of time is an ambitious one, yet Deaf Center manage to balance the humble with the grand in great warmth as seconds become minutes, hours become days and time seemingly freezes as a still-life moment.
For the first time in their career, the duo welcomes a guest musician to contribute to the record. British composer and musician Simon Goff joins with his strings for the final piece. However, just as the last piece slowly fades away, clearing my mind from this brief reverie, so does the first track appear again, in my continuous repeated playthrough, and I set off this journey again, over and over, until every sound is finally mine, until our narratives fuse into a single life story.
This is an absolute must, and I can’t recommend it enough to all loyal Headphone Commute followers. Deaf Center sit at that confluence you’ve grown to love. Where post-classical arrangements dissolve into a moody, ambient abstraction, feeling like a film score to something half-remembered or unseen. The digital release drops on April 30th, while the physical limited editions pressed on vinyl and a CD, both housed in a handmade textile sleeve, will be available on May 1st via Monique’s Sonic Pieces. All details are here. Be sure to also check out Deaf Center’s Lucy’s Dream and this Interview with Erik K Skodvin.
