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Menke

Listen: Alva Noto Remodel of Menke’s “Moln”

Mar 09, 2018

Swedish multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Menke has released the Alva Noto Remodel of “‘Moln”,’ her original debut single,’ out now via Size/Cosmos. Menke tapped German producer Alva Noto, which has Earmilk smitten:

“Menke’s vocal is hushed, haunting and otherworldly, but Noto’s subdued electronics and expert layering to knock this already stunning track into an entirely different galaxy.”

Here’s some more background on the artists from the press release:

Alva Noto is known for his unique ability to combine ambient sounds with outside environmental aspects. He showcased this skill effortlessly in his masterful score for the award-winning film The Revenant. As co-founder of the Raster-Noton label, he has also won the prestigious Golden Nica prize for his work on the critically acclaimed CD series ’20 to 2000’ and has collaborated with the likes of Iggy Pop and has previously remixed tracks by Bjork and John Cale.

Menke creates her own soulful world with small gestures. She plays piano, guitar, banjo, cello, vibraphone, but also more unconventional instruments such as lyre and wine glasses.

The words for ‘Moln’ were taken from Karin Boye’s poem of the same. Speaking of the poem, Menke says: ““I more or less stumbled over Karin Boye’s poetry by accident to be honest. I was just home one day, and out of boredom I picked a book randomly from the bookshelf. That book was a collection of poems by Karin Boye. “I opened it up and read the first one, a poem called ’Moln’. It struck me like lightning. The words had such a thorough impact on me and as I read along I kept hearing this music in my head. Music that grew and came alive as I read the poem for the first time.””