Linus Hillborg & Theodor Kentros - Four Works

Four Works is a split full-length album by Linus Hillborg and Theodor Kentros with two pieces by each composer. The music on this record was written and recorded during 2019-2021. Each side of the album begins with a piece for organ and electronics performed by Fredrik Lundqvist.

The record opens with Hillborg’s Auguries which examines microtonal register shifts and shift changes in register as well as density throughout its 14 minutes. In this piece the electronics act as a shading device outlining the harmonic structure dictated by the organ in a way reminiscent of Hillborg’s 2021 release Magelungsverket on the label Moloton.

Side A closes with a second piece by Hillborg, Temporal Canons no. 1-3 for solo violin and electronics. This work is performed by Karin Hellqvist and highlights a different side of Hillborg’s palette. Temporal Canons no. 1-3 consists almost exclusively of natural harmonics of the open strings of the instrument processed by tape loops in real time to generate slow complex shifting lines which all stem from the same source material.

Side B begins with Fractura by Theodor Kentros, also written for organ and electronics and performed by the same organist. Kentros however approaches the imposing instrument and its historical connotations in an entirely different manner, focusing on the sounds commonly considered byproducts of the sound-producing process such as noise from the bellows and interference patterns caused by half-enabled registers.

The record closes with De som lämnat, again composed by Kentros. The instrumentation here is bass clarinet and electronics. While the title itself suggests a form of mourning (The ones who’ve left), the sound of the music instead points towards a more structural examination of interference between the clarinets extended techniques and the computer generated electronics.

Since both composers on this release mainly operate within the field of electroacoustic music these four pieces deviate from the composers' ordinary practice to a certain extent. However, they still retain an imprint shared with both composers' larger body of work. Aside from their compositional practice both Hillborg and Kentros are active as musicians, Hillborg in groups such as Viagra Boys, Horze, Saigon and The Ägg while Kentros plays in Kerosene Kream and Caligulas Mamma. They also work together in the duo Sänkt.