Stine Janvin, Morten Joh Or Gare - funeral procession music from Ryfylke, Norway
A1, Leaving home - O Verden, Hav Da Gode Nat! (feat. Lucy Railton) - trad. after Vetrhus/Mehus/Lunde, Suldal 1948
A2, Passing neighbours - Sørg, O Kjære Fader, Du - trad. after Henrik Kleveland, Øvre Vats/Vindafjord 1960
A3. Rest - Bordvers (feat. Jules Reidy) - trad. after Mehus/Lunde, Suldal 1948, Lyrics by Stine Janvin
A4. Before the burial site - Jeg Raader Eder Alle - trad. after Bertha Rafdal, Sauda 1949
A5, By the grave - Akk, Mon Jeg Staar i Naade - trad. after Bertha Rafdal, Sauda 1949
B1. Lowering the coffin - Vaar Strid Er Endt - trad. after Eivind Sigurdsson Berg, Setesdal 1953
B2. Processing grief - Transcendens - Music by Morten Joh and Stine Janvin with excerpts from Bli hos Meg (Abide with Me) by WH Monk and Vaar Strid er Endt trad. after E.S. Berg
B3. Acceptance - Kom, Menneske, At Skue Mig! - trad. after Håkon og Klara Moen, Songesand 1983
B4. Postlude - Erbarm' Dich Mein, O Herre Gott BWV 721 - possibly by Johann Walter, Wittenberg, DE 1524, 7-limit JI arrangement based on BWV 721 by M. Joh
Stine Janvin & Morten Joh unveil Or Gare, a stark and deeply atmospheric excavation of funeral-processional music from Ryfylke, Norway - an eerily fitting debut collaboration that drags a near-forgotten tradition into ghost-lit contemporary form.
Rooted in the bygone custom of Liksong (literally “corpse song”) - once sung by small groups of singers who guided rural funeral processions - Janvin and Joh tap into its uncanny, unbearably slow, near-neutral intervallic structures reanimating the practice as a kind of ancient electronic microtonal devotional music. Voices and vocal effects, synths and melodic percussion seep into the cracks between major and minor, and the whole thing carries the creaking weight of ceremony, yet glows with an otherworldly modernity, as if a forgotten liturgy had been retuned for a dimly humming chapel of circuits.
The duo, consisting of Stine Janvin on vocals and electronics and Morten Joh on synths, tape machines, and percussion, expands the palette with spectral contributions from Lucy Railton (cello on track A1) and Jules Reidy (electric guitar on track A3).
Recorded and mixed by Morten Joh at Stille Studio / Consulatet, Stavanger, Norway, 2024–2025.
Mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab, 2025. Produced by Stine Janvin & Morten Joh.
Photos by Carlos H. Juica
Housed in a 4-page unipak gatefold, screen-printed by Drid Machine.
The album is a split release between Krets and Futura Resistenza.
Personnel:
Stine Janvin — vocals and electronics
Morten Joh — korg polysix, sequential take 5 and retuned vibraphone
Lucy Railton — cello (A1)
Jules Reidy — electric guitar (A3)
