Sivert Høyem | On An Island

The rain is pouring down and the Northern Lights are beginning to twinkle. In September 2021, Sivert and his collaborators moved into the old Zoar parish hall in Nyksund to record music. It started with an idea to make something "simple and stripped down" together with engineer Bjarne Stensli. Something similar to live or demo recordings, not created in a normal environment.

Record studios don't have a natural sound. They were looking for a large recording space, preferably a church. They discussed the South of France and Tuscany, but it had to have wooden walls and floors, and there's not much of that down south. Then the pandemic hit and travel abroad was ruled out. That's when the idea for Zoar was born. It's located in Nyksund, an old fishing village in Nordland with only nine residents.

Everything was recorded in one room with microphones, usually as a trio (Sivert, Christer Knutsen and Børge Fjordheim). Nothing comes from boxes of pre-programmed sounds. The album is mixed by industry legend Tchad Blake in his home studio in Wales. Random noises, creaking wood and the possible sound of ghosts are included. It sounds timeless, immediate and raw in a way that makes you question whether 'rock' is the right term to use for Sivert's work this time around.