Nude on Sand is the duo of uncomprising singer/songwriter/artist Jenny Hval and improvising guitarist Håvard Volden. Together they rip apart the idea of how a guitar/voice duo should sound, shifting with a SNAP from naive blues, spoken word and fragmented pop songs. The lyrics follow these abrupt shifts with endearing absurdity, from diaristic monologues to more abstract poetry.

JENNY HVAL

Jenny Hval (b. 1980) has in recent years made a name for herself as a writer, journalist, recording artist and sound artist both in Norway and abroad. When her third record Viscera was released in 2011, Italian Vogue described her as: “an artist of significant competence, both musically and intellectually.” Multidisciplinary and transgressive are words often employed to describe her art, but Jenny Hval’s polyphonic artistry is in fact seamlessly interwoven between musical, literary, visual and performative modes of expression. Despite her young age, she has already infused, carved and modulated an artistic voice that is altogether present, accessible and obscurely complex at the same time.

"a fearless performer and artist, who knows no boundaries and is incapable of compromising." The Milkfactory

Angharad Davies is a violinist whose work is situated in the complex intersection of improvised and composed music. She is dedicated to exploring and expanding sound production on the violin, and has developed a specific approach to the violin, which extends the sound possibilities of the instrument by attaching and applying objects to the strings or by sounding unexpected parts of the instrument's body.

Davies is an active performer in contemporary, improvisation and experimental music both as a soloist, within ensembles such as Apartment House and Common Objects, and in smaller improvised groups with musicians such as Axel Dörner, Taku Unami, and John Butcher.

Her sensitivity to the sonic possibilities of musical situations and attentiveness to their shape and direction make her one of contemporary music's most fascinating figures.

www.angharaddavies.com

STEPHANIE HLADOWSKI

"Inspired by the lead singers in a youth production of Grease, I started singing at age 12. My first singing teacher was Mary Coles who sadly passed away with cancer. She provided me with a good grounding in singing and we shared many laughs together.

My Dad gave me his Ladies of the Canyon (Joni Mitchell) record that he used to listen to in Halls of Residence. I borrowed a songbook and would spend hours by the piano desperately trying to relate to them. They seem to belong to that particular room in my childhood home.

I learnt a lot from listening to jazz ladies like Ella Fitzgerald and Mildred Bailey, always trying to imitate their voices - I think imitating is the best way to develop good singing.

I started to get more experimental with Meredith Monk, Kronos Quartet, Sun Ra (and singer of the Arkestra, June Tyson, who I love)...

The Bulgarka Junior Quartet really got me into Bulgarian traditional singing and I never realised I would be able to sing something so complex-sounding before I went to one of Dessislava Stefanova's workshops - she told me I have the gypsy spirit!"






The collaboration between Ny Musikk and OTO Projects has been made possible through support from MIC, Music Information Centre Norway, an organisation promoting Norwegian music nationally and internationally.