Don’t you just love it when the story writes itself? I say this because the story of Something In The Air has been written by the Danish band of the same name. For once, forget about what I think, focus on the music, focus on the noise of the air in your room – if you’re listening to it at the equanimous sound level they imagined you would. Focus on how this music fills that air. For fifty-two minutes let the movement of this environmental music capture the spirit of its creation…then come back and read the story behind it, as told by Something In The Air. As for me, file it under: purifying music.
Whispers of the Sky
…Something in the Air…
“Something in the Air” was a project carried out during a cultural festival in Århus, Denmark, in the first week of September 1992. Led by Tore Vanggaard and The Chaos Pilots (Kaospilot), the project’s goal was to create a peaceful atmosphere and deliver a message to resist cultural destruction and violence.
During the festival, the city center transformed, enveloped in the calmest atmosphere of the year. Clothes dyed in matching colors and megaphones were hung on wires, draped across alleyways. The sight of these clothes, resembling laundry swaying in the breeze, gave passersby a sense of homely comfort. From the evening into the night, gentle and relaxing music filled the air, creating a nearly magical ambiance.
A particular highlight of the project was a live performance by four musicians, guitarist Mikkel Lentz, keyboardists Per Holm, Jacob Sæther (Rishi), and vocalist Turid Christensen, playing relaxing music at night. This enchanting live performance became the pinnacle of the “Something in the Air” project, and the recording of that performance is what you are now listening to as “Whispers of the Sky”.
For this project, the following were used:
– 3,500 meters of speaker cable
– 3,000 pieces of dyed clothing
– 6,000 meters of wires
– 40,000 clothespins
– And the energy and love of countless people…
Without these, this sensory world could not have been created.
An Unexpected Harmony Released the Scent of Silence
No one had planned this. Tore (the leader of Kaospilot) came up with the idea, but none of us had imagined what would happen. We all arrived in that state of mind, in the attic where the live concert was to take place. It was a really small space.
No one was thinking about anything. There were no special rules for this attic concert. However, when we started playing, such a wonderful atmosphere descended upon us.
When Rishi played the strings on his keyboard, Turid’s vocals followed perfectly. Mikkel embraced his guitar as he played, and I played the chords on the keyboard. In that deep love for music, we all held hands together. We were ready. Everyone had brought small pieces of music from home. For a little while, we had to recharge in preparation for the night. After the performance, we would be completely emptied, purified, and unable to repeat the same thing again. But that wasn’t necessary.
Rishi had recorded everything on DAT.
This album compresses the 3.5-hour live performance from that night into 52 minutes. It was difficult to pick and choose, but I think we created a really good album.
When you listen to this music at an extremely low volume, just faint enough to hear, it blends with the air and releases the scent of silence. Please enjoy.
- Per Holm, One of the “Something In The Air” Team
Music is Alive
Music was alive.
Music is alive.
It came and went,
through hundreds of speakers on a quiet summer night.A wonderful new night,
A wonderful new group of people.
We went out happily, we returned happily,
And you showed us the way,
leading us to a new space.
When you stop,
we’ll go even further.Then the laundry started chatting—
“Hey, did you hear? Do you know?”
During those nine nights, I saw eight lovers
under seven speakers.
That’s what thousands of pieces of laundry were saying.
And then, they became something more,
together with the music.
Look, it really happened.
Yes, something was dancing in front of us.
And we descended from the sky to the earth,
The project was a success.
Yes, it was.
- Tore Vanggaard, Kaospilot
“The whole centre of a big city wrapped in quiet, meditative, instrumental music for a whole week. There was something in the air… The music of this album is the highlight of this project.”