phonophani

phonophani sound installation Sonus barentsicus at Northern Lights music Festival, Tromsø 07

phonophani with marius watz at Maderia Dig 06

monofilament resurrection

Espen Sommer Eide and Andreas Brandal makes a new monofilament track after 10 years break. On the compilation "Million ways to spend your time" out on quasipop

phonophani on tour with generator x

20.04.06: Trondheim. Blæst
21.04.06: Oslo. Blå
22.04.06: Fredrikstad. St. Croix Huset
26.04.06: Bergen. Landmark
27.04.06: Tromsø. Kaos
28.04.06: Drammen. Union Scene
29.04.06: Stavanger. Tou Scene

For more information visit rikskonsertene

Phonophani will cooperate with video artist Marius Watz. The rest of the line up is:
Frank bretschneider (GER), Lia (AUT) and emi maeda (JPN).

feu de camp électronique

3. june 05- Phonophanis "feu de camp électronique" performed live at Ronchamp Chapel, France. Celebrating the UNESCO status of the famous chapel, phonophani will compose and perform a special piece based on the ideas and techniques of architecht Le Corbusier and his collaborator Iannis Xenakis. It will be performed in quadrophony outside the chapel and also diffused on a 24 loudspeaker acousmonium inside the building. The title "feu de camp électronique" is a rephrasing of Edgar Vareses title "Poème électronique", made for Le Corbusiers and Xenakis´ Philips Pavillon. A campfire is a piece of virtual architecture which creates a sense of home, but with invisible walls, to the people that is sitting around it. Phonophanis electronic campfire will light up outside the Ronchamp chapel, at 20.30h on 3. june.

Phonophani has composed and will perform a bollyfoni at this years Borealis festival in Bergen together with Sigbjørn Apeland on organ. 18. march on Landmark, combining the wonderous world of bollywood dance scenes with electronic music, an homage to the greatest bollywood director: V.Shantaram and his music director-duo Laxmikant Pyrelal.

“In a way that’s impossible to pinpoint, Phonophani’s Genetic Engineering is one of the saddest albums of recent years. Something about its openended melodies and unresolving structures makes it undeniably, if unreasonably, melancholy - like the slow passage of prickly lit cities as seen from 30, 000 feet." Philip Sherburne, The Wire

Short BIOGRAPHY

Espen Sommer Eide
born in oslo
raised in Tromsø
lives in Bergen
citizen of United States of Kola

1990´s: plays with various underground bands in Tromsø and making early computer music.

Major releases (for releases with Alog visit their discography):

phonophani - phonophani
biophon 1998

phonophani - genetic engineering
runegrammofon 2001

FjernFjernKontrollKontroll - Spunk Filtered through friends - rune grammofon 2001

Duperbeach (the Duet mix) - On Sister Sonny Duper Beach EP - REC 90 2001

Beyond that place... Dragons! - Audio Dregs 2002

Bees - they will sting you - 7" spilt with Vibracathedral Orchestra, Milkland 2003

phonophani - oak or rock
runegrammofon 2004

Andreas' memory piano (phonophani remix)
enlightenment 2005

phonophani - phonophani
runegrammofon re-release 2006

press pictures (click to enlarge):

Adrian Potancok Hospodarske Noviny:
"Hereby, this album indicates new positions of ambient. New boiling near the fjords."

The opening 'Lavenderloops' is one of the most astonishing tracks you will hear this year, layered vocoders twisting into disembodied psychic reel, while 'Cook Islands' plaites vocal abstractions into vivid synapse-tapestry. It's all too easy for electronic wanderers to rely on the glitch and the drone: this brilliantly unnerving record repaints the atmosphere in a thousand shades of strange (8/10). New Musical Express, UK

Crystal clear production and visionary artistry make this a brilliant sophomore effort and one of the label's best releases yet. Motion, UK

50 minutes of sublime sonic experimentation that seldom loses your attention and gets down to inventing it´s own, runic musical language. A quiet triumph. Muzik, UK

A strange and beautiful beast. Wire, UK

A second album from Norwegian Espen Sommer Eide, his first on this consistently interesting label. It's digital stuff, Eide's own software gradually mutating loops in a gentle and very modern ambient style. His sounds change with a very naturalsounding unpredictability; it«s beautiful. Flux, UK

Drones and glitches have become the lingua franca of experimental electronica and it is rare that an artist forces them to articulate anything different. Genetic Engineering begins with the striking Lavenderloops, twisting vocodered phrases into a beautiful melody. The occasional vocals, as on End of all Things, enhance the disembodiment, a sense of mental static lovingly pressed on to a small silver disc. The Times, UK

Both (Phonophani and Supersilent) possess the ability to let you wander off yet find yourself returning to their absorbing textures, becoming an integral part of your environment, as per Eno's definition of ambient. Beware, instant hit music is a barely visible dot on the horizon from this, but if you've got some time and concentration to spare, these are worth spending it on. 8/10. Wax, UK

An often unsettling slice of electronica combining melody and subliminal disturbances. Mojo, UK

Phonophani distils his obfuscated samples into post-Oval music that is strange, beautiful and moving. PhonopaniÕs boreal scrapes, throbs and ticks are as emotive as any other record issued this year. Ammocity, UK

An admirable grasp of musical means with a fascinating result. Another recommended release from Rune Grammofon. Extract, NO

Sommer Eide is simply a master of the computer and the sampler. Eight tracks so organic that they positively breath by themselves. An etheric joy to listen to. Osloposten, NO

There's a pureness of tone to Eide's programming, the sounds glassy and icy, a windyness and distance like Sigur Ros, the depth of Vladislav Delay. Other Music, US

Somewhere between ambient dub and the most innovative electronica. Plan B, NO