CD: Jexper Holmen, ‘Oort Cloud’

Artists: jexper holmen, composer / Torben Snekkestad / Frode Andersen / Frode Haltli

Released on Dacapo Records

Composed for two accordions and a saxophone, Oort Cloud is nearly an hour long and the musicians are pushed to their absolute limits. The accordionists have to use all their strength to draw out the bellows of their instruments completely and the saxophonist must breathe in and out at the same time while playing multiple simultaneous notes. They described the music as ‘chaotic relentlessness’.

We talked about letting the graphic design echo the idea that the universe doesn’t give a damn about you and came up with the idea of filling the cover – in fact the whole 24-page booklet inside and all surfaces of the jewel case – with random code. The listener, who was otherwise used to finding an informative essay accompanying the music, would be confronted by pages and pages of gibberish.

One classical music reviewer wrote ‘If prizes were awarded on the basis of user-unfriendliness, this CD would be in line for a Pulitzer.’