Berlin’s boutique record label Sonic Pieces has been around for 15 years, and we at AB don’t want to let that milestone pass us by. AB has long had a good relationship with Monique Recknagel, founder and curator of the label that is known for its wonderful, handcrafted artwork. The list of ‘her’ artists to have already appeared on one of the AB stages is long: Midori Hirano, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Rauelsson, Otto A. Totland, Nils Frahm, Moon Ate the Dark, Erik K Skodvin, Jasmine Guffond, Hauschka, Greg Haines, Dustin O'Halloran, …

 

At our request, Monique curates an evening that beautifully demonstrates what the label stands for in the year 2024. Aside from an Artist Talk and Q&A with Monique, there will also be a screening of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s film End of Summer, and live-sets from Sylvain Chauveau, Cisser Mæhl and Erik K Skodvin too.

 

Screening: End Of Summer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2014, 29 mins.

End of Summer captures Jóhann Jóhannsson’s journey to the Antarctic peninsula to discover the calm landscape that changes from season to season, barely influenced or even noticed by humans. The Super 8 film is a comforting study of a peaceful environment in one of the most crucial and endangered areas of our planet.

 

Sylvain Chauveau

 

The minimal compositions for acoustic instruments, electronics and vocals by Barcelona-resident Frenchman Sylvain Chauveau have been released on labels like FatCat, Type, Nature Bliss, Brocoli Records, … But you may also know him from various projects with other artists: ensemble 0 with Stéphane Garin – just recently in AB with Peter Broderick for a project on Arthur Russell - ON with Steve Hess, and Arca with Joan Cambon.

 

Earlier this year his album Ultra-Minimal was released on Sonic Pieces, a live recording of a concert that Sylvain gave in March ’22 at Café OTO in London. Connected to that, he re-released his debut album Le livre noir du capitalisme (2000): a melancholy milestone and, together with the first works by Jóhannsson and Max Richter, a forerunner of what would later become the contemporary classical genre.

 

Cisser Mæhl

 

Danish composer and music producer Cisser Mæhl released her debut Innemuseum on Sonic Pieces in March 2023. It is a very personal album that sounds like the musical embodiment of Cisser herself. She sings in Danish, close-miked – as if sitting next to you – while subdued rhythms and soft strings combine to create a kind of lucid, minimal chamber music. It almost feels like a Nordic reflection of Colleen’s work in her quieter, vocal periods.

“Cisser Mæhl’s debut solo album is a slow-motion set of hushed Danish lullabies that’s well worth filing alongside Björk’s “Vespertine” and Colleen’s “The Weighing of the Heart”. – BOOMKAT

“The structures and arrangements are similarly intuitive, as Mæhl’s songs feel far more like miniatures or poems than structured songs”. – BRAINWASHED

 

Erik K Skodvin

 

Aside from the many releases in his own name, we also know this Berlin-based Norwegian from his work as Svarte Greiner and projects or collaborations with Deaf Center, B/B/S, Aaron Moore, Jasmine Guffond, … He is also the driving force behind the Miasmah label (think: Kaboom Karavan, Gareth Davies, Deaf Center, Volcano The Bear, Kreng,…).

Erik has been establishing his oeuvre since the early 2000s, one that consists mainly of guitar- and electronica-driven and reverb-drenched, dark, experimental ambient. In 2024, we’ll see 2 films released with soundtracks provided by Skodvin: Danish film Afterwar and the Swedish horror-thriller Ur Mörkret.