Silje Nes

Norwegian multi-instrumentalist / singer / songwriter Silje Nes grew up in the tiny town of Leikanger, in Sognefjord, Norway's largest fjord, before moving to Bergen in 2000. Having previously been in an indie pop band, played timpani in an orchestra and bass drum in a marching band, Silje began making her own music in 2001, recording on 4-track demo software through a tiny inbuilt microphone on a laptop. Guided by the excitement of discovering interesting new sounds and instruments, she made use of whatever equipment she could get hold of - guitars, an old synth, a cello, a drum kit, a laptop, as well as loop pedals to build layers of her own playing. Little by little she also found ways of including her own voice, both as texture and song, and her music has organically evolved from there.
First coming to FatCat's attention via a unique, utterly charming demo received out of the blue in 2005, her quirky, adventurous debut album, 'Ames Room', opened out like a series of intricate constructions, the whole teeming with a playful sense of life. Followed shortly by a 4-track EP, 'Yellow', Silje subsequently embarked on tours of the UK / Europe / USA, but after that has remained quiet for a while, spending her time in her new home in Berlin, constructing the beautiful follow-up "Opticks". Nevertheless, it has been worth waiting, since every song on the record, which has been created between autumn 2008 and winter 2009 and mixed with Tarwater's Bernd Jestram, sounds remarkably coherent and never over the top. Silje knows how to develop her very own type of song, using her undeniable skills in stringing together loops and strange particles of noise. The soundscapes built up in this manner, create a weird but comfortable feeling of eternalness, which is hard to put into words. Both recorded and performed on stage, her work unfolds itself slow, but in the same way thrilling.

Links

www.myspace.com/siljenes