Things are looking up for Bergen-based Stein Urheim, a musician who, on the basis of Stein Urheim—his second release on Hubro after the vinyl/download-only Kosmolodi (2012) and third as a leader following his 2009 debut, Three Sets of Music—seems interested in just about anything with strings…and a few without…

‘Utopian Tales’ offers strange yet beautiful soundscapes inspired by microtonality – the little gaps between the notes. Just as the rigid divisions of the well-tempered scale in Western music mirrored hierarchical structures in society at large, so microtonal music, which uses intervals smaller than a semi-tone, can be reflective of a freer and more fluid social order…

Voice & Strings & Timpani is the latest project of guitarist Stephan Meidell and drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde, two of the most important figures in the new wave of Norwegian music. They are also staples of the Hubro roster of artists and of the vibrant Bergen experimental music scene. Both play in the acclaimed band of violinist/fiddler Erlend Apneseth; Meidell is part of the trio Cakewalk, plus his own solo projects including the Metrics Ensemble and TRIGGER, while Hegg-Lunde plays with Building Instrument, Electric Eye and Jose Gonzales’ ‘indie’ band Junip.

Be Here Whenever is a perfect circle of nine creations by Danielle de Gruttola (Cello), Henry Kaiser (Guitar), Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger Fiddle) and Stein Urheim (Guitar). It is music filled with the intense mindfulness that comes when one is confronted by nature at its most awe-inspiring, those places where one becomes acutely aware of how small they are within this world, never mind the cosmos beyond its thin atmosphere.