Rural Tapes announces new album 'Contact'

The first taste of the stunning mainly instrumental record comes in the form of ‘Run Rapid’. Inspired by the composition work of Basil Kirchin, the jazzy percussive breaks, trippy mellotron, warped guitars, violin and looming bass from the underbelly play out like a daring and seductive slice of film noir.

In 2023 the world is hurtling at breakneck speed into the future as everything around us becomes increasingly autonomous, yet with the new album Contact, Rural Tapes is putting the brakes on and taking things back to a more organic approach, favouring old analogue equipment and historic instrumentation over new technological advances.

Whether drawing on the likes of a zither or gamelan, the instruments that have for centuries been used to carve the sounds of the world come together with synths, drum machines and curious field recordings to create a future-sounding, forward-thinking record, shaped by the equipment of the past.

Rural Tapes is the moniker of the Norwegian producer and multi-instrumentalist Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen. Regarding the album he says, "While the world is discussing artificial intelligence, I have gone in the complete opposite direction over the last year and delved deep into the world and the sound of old tape recorders. It has almost become an obsession. I can hardly walk past an old recorder without buying it from a thrift store or ebay. What it can contain in terms of sounds and stories is too tempting. Where I used to bring a new record from each city when I was on tour, I now bring home a recorder instead! Every player and tape has something unique and personal about it, it's like opening the door to a new candy shop, every time I play a tape and have no idea what it contains.

"The title Contact feels right on many levels. First of all, it’s about the way I work. Working with hardware units, twisting knobs really make me feel in contact with my music. As soon as I start playing around with plugins, I lose connection to my work. More than ever, I’ve delved deep into the world of tapes, especially old, crappy reel to reel recorders and cassette recorders or dictaphones. The wobblier, the better. It’s about textures that are so full of character you can almost touch them. Also, I feel in contact with all my influences. All the music I love and listen to, it becomes a part of my DNA, and comes out through my own music. I would never be able to compose a piece like ‘Opus 1’ if I didn’t play Chopin’s music when I learned playing the piano. Contact is also about paying attention as a listener, or in everyday life. We live in a time full of fragments, and I want this album and these compositions to be something you pay attention to and enjoy most as a whole.”

The new album Contact follows the release of Inner Space Music (2022) and Rural Tapes (2021). The previous albums were released to vast critical praise and further cemented Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen as a vital name from the Norwegian music scene.

In a career which spans almost 20 years, he has been a part of important Norwegian bands such as I Was A King and Heroes & Zeros, while more recently has been releasing records in the bi-continental jangle band The No Ones with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey from R.E.M. and Minus 5 along with I Was A King frontman Frode Strømstad.

His previous Rural Tapes records have also seen the likes of Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Tom Waits), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey join him for his captivating musical odysseys.

On Contact Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen plays organs, synthesizers, mellotron, piano, drums, drum machines, percussion, acoustic guitar, zither, gamelan, tuba, field recordings and tape units. He is joined in parts by Lars Løberg Tofte (bass), Marin Stallemo Bakke (violin), Sigurd Thomassen (acoustic guitar) and Øystein Braut (electric & steel guitar).

CONTACT TRACK LISTING
A1 Patchwork
A2 Opus 1
A3 Tape Collage #1
A4 By Dawn

B1 Run Rapid
B2 Check One, Two
B3 Alien Territories
B4 Waves

All songs written, arranged, produced & mixed by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen at Nygrenda Vev & Dur
Mastered by Anders Bjelland at Broen Studios
Artwork tapestry by Kristin Sæterdal - "Server", 2018. © Kristin Sæterdal / BONO 2023

Lars Løberg Tofte - bass guitar on B1 & B4
Marin Stallemo Bakke - violins on B1 & B4
Sigurd Thomassen - acoustic guitar on B4
Øystein Braut - electric guitar & steel guitar on B1
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR RURAL TAPES

“A level of its very own”
MOJO

"Consistently inventive"
Uncut Magazine

"Rural Tapes delights in the unexpected. At every turn, you encounter something new, something to be marvelled over. Kjelsrud Mathisen has said he wants this music to stand the test of time. It will."
The Independent

“A dreamy self-titled debut full of broad soundscapes... Melding smooth jazz with floaty puffs of synth, the album is both meditative and uplifting, the sort of soundtrack you might expect from a dream sequence in a 1970s film."
GQ Magazine

“A wonderfully woozy and captivating listening experience.”
Electronic Sound

" Norwegian maverick confirms his position as a master mood technician."
Prog Magazine

"Mathison’s musical pedigree makes Rural Tapes an intriguing musical journey of an album that takes in pulsating Krautrock, neo-classical moods and dreamy, proggy pop, all formed through an intuitive composition process."
Shindig Magazine