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Less than a year after the release of their debut album, Norwegian duo Konradsen – vocalist/pianist Jenny Marie Sabel and multi-instrumentalist Eirik Vildgren – announces a new EP, Rodeo No. 5, and its first single, “The Year Is Over.” Rodeo No. 5 was made as an extension to 2019’s Saints and Sebastian Stories, and includes contributions from friends and musicians who comprise the band’s community. The EP sees Konradsen experimenting with structure and sounds, layering field recordings and samples of ambient sounds. “While last year’s album was crafted meticulously, this EP is focused on fleeting, immediate moments — trying to capture the raw fragments that drift by in everyday life,” they explain. “It’s an ode to the small choices we make everyday.”
“The Year Is Over” is a soulful ballad, layered with processed pianos and a groovy bass. Sabel’s vocals are gentle and emotive, and she shares, “This song in particular is about leaving home, about that small gap in your life when everything is new and you feel invincible.”
Just as on Saints and Sebastian Stories, Konradsen assembles friends to contribute their voices; Rodeo No. 5 features previous collaborators Erlend Vesteraas (bass), Ivar Myrset Asheim (percussion and drums), Thomas Tengelsen (tenor horn), and new faces Selma French Bolstad (violin) and Runa Husøy (saxophone).Konradsen trace their roots to the far north of Norway, where the black night of winter is backlit by the neon glow of the Northern Lights. It’s a fitting metaphor for the music the pair crafts – tradition meets innovation, while the natural world glimmers overhead. Inspired by the folksongs and hymns Sabel sang with her family as a child, and the modern pop music she and Vildgren listen to as adults, Konradsen weaves Sabel’s soulful vocals with field recordings, samples and ambient foley. These voices of past and present dance over minimalist piano, atmospheric electronics, programmed beats and organic horns, forming a sonic tapestry that foregrounds the people close to Konradsen.
