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JUHANI SILVOLA
COMPOSER / MUSICIAN / PRODUCER
NEW DUO ALBUM WITH TORGEIR VASSVIK OUT 06.12.2024
ALBUM OF WORKS FOR SOLO PREPARED ACOUSTIC GUITAR/ELECTRONICS
OUT ON SHHPUMA!
BioG
Juhani Silvola is a versatile Finnish/Norwegian composer, musician and producer with a masters degree in electroacoustic composition from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he studied with Natasha Barrett.
Silvola recently co-produced and played on Susanna Wallumrød's critically acclaimed Meditations On Love (2024). He is a virtuosic instrumentalist playing folk music & experimental jazz/rock/improv on acoustic & electric guitars, in addition to being an uncompromising contemporary-music composer creating works where the traditional performer is irrelevant.
He has released five critically acclaimed solo albums, four successful and forward-thinking folk music albums with the violinist Sarah-Jane Summers (Nominated for Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen 2021), produced/mixed albums for bands such as Susanna Wallumrød & Highasakite, and plays on numerous other releases.
Summers/Silvola was recently commissioned to write for and play with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and they performed Spirit Multitude at Tectonics Festival 2024 with conductor Ilan Volkov. Their work for string quintet and the duo, How To Raise the Wind, won NOPAs Music Prize 2022. They are currently writing for one of the worlds leading string quartets for contemporary and experimental music, Bozzini Quartet, to be premiered at Nordlysfestivalen & Celtic Connections 2025.
Silvola’s electroacoustic music explores themes of post-humanism, (mediated) nature, processes of growth/decay, and tensions between states of stasis & states of struggle. In his instrumental work, he is concerned with rhythm and phrasing in their widest sense, idiosyncratic melodic trajectories, and the creation of the deepest, most animated timbres & textures as possible.
He currently plays with, among others, Susanna Wallumrød, Torgeir Vassvik, Frode Haltli's Avant Folk, Irene Tillung's Ti På Taket, Aasmund Nordstoga/Ingebjørg Lognvik Reinholdt, and The SISKIN Quartet, and has played with Nils Petter Molvær Group, Splashgirl, Sam Lee, Unni Løvlid, Erlend Viken Trio, Jenny Hval & Jessica Sligte etc etc.
PRESS
Solo Guitar albums
"Scandinavia has sired another stunning modern guitarist in Silvola. This recording of electro/acoustic guitar sublimely straddles the worlds of tonality and atonality"
(guitarmoderne.com about Wolf Hour Roundelay)
“Superbly played, wonderfully produced”
(BBC3 Late Junction about Imaginary Archives)
“Mercurial and unique album”
(Songlines about Imaginary Archives)
Electroacoustic Works
Post-Biological Wildlife (2019) & The Slow Smokeless Burning Of Decay (2021) made the top 20 albums of the year at 5against4.com (places 20 and 14).
"Silvola establishes a palpable sense of potential power, but always handled with extreme care, making sudden plunges into overload all the more exhilarating and overwhelming"
(5against4 about The Slow Smokeless Burning Of Decay.)
"Compositional & music-performing craftsmanship and creativity combine to create a masterpiece"
(Chain D.L.K about Post-Biological Wildlife)
"an absolutely gorgeous album. Sublime work!"
(Vital Weekly about Post-Biological Wildlife)
Summers & Silvola
The Smoky Smirr o Rain (2021) was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy in 2022 (Spellemannprisen). It was also, along with Widdershins (2016) and Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola (2013), awarded Top of the World status from Songlines.
"magnificent...absolute masters of their instruments"
(5/5*, Fiona Talkington / Songlines)
“Dazzling album” 5/5*
(Tim Chipping/fRoots)
WATCH
LISTEN
 SHH072CD-1500 |
|---|
 8NERVE009 digital front RBG |
 The Smoky Smirr o Rain front cover |
 Post-Biological Wildlife front |
 Juhani Silvola |
 Strange Flowers |
 Widdershins |
 Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola |
 Thresholds |
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Forthcoming Releases
The SISKIN Quartet: Flight Paths (Eighth Nerve, Sept 2022)
Summers/Silvola & Sølvstrøk (Heilo, Jan 2023)
As a band member
Juhani Silvola: Wolf Hour Roundelay (Shhpuma 2022)
Juhani Silvola: The Slow Smokeless Burning Of Decay (8Nerve 2021)
Summers & Silvola: The Smoky Smirr o Rain (Eighth Nerve 2021)
Frode Haltli: Avant Folk II (Hubro 2021)
Frode Haltli: Avant Fok (Hubro 2018)
Juhani Silvola: Post-Biological Wildlife (Eighth Nerve 2019)
Sjøvaag & Silvola: Alien Horticultures (Shipwreckords 2020)
Sjøvaag & Silvola: Music for Cities (Shipwreckords 2018)
Juhani Silvola: Imaginary Archives vol.1 (Eighth Nerve 2017)
Ingebjørg Lognvik Reinholdt: Songen om Guro (Ta:lik 2017)
Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: Widdershins (Dell Daisy 2016)
Juhani Silvola: Strange Flowers (Periskop 2016)
Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: Duo (Dell Daisy 2013)
Koan: Thresholds (Shipwreckords 2011)
Sacred Harp: Window’s a Fall (Trust Me 2011)
Erlend Viken Trio: Frie Tøyler (Grappa 2014)
Summers/Silvola/Kvam: Mala Fama (Norcd 2012)
Earlybird Stringband: Earlybird Stringband (VME 2010)
Adjagas: Adjagas (Trust Me 2005)
As studio musician/producer/mixer
Mokri: Heart Change (Mix/co-production) (Sheep Chase Records 2022)
Sarah-Jane Summers: VIRR/SOLO/OWERSET/KALOPSIA (producer/recording/mix) (Eighth Nerve 2017)
Bridget & Leif: Sea Of Trees (Playingwithmusic 2018)
Splashgirl: Pressure (musician) (Hubro 2011)
Jessica: Fear and the framing (recording/musician) (Hubro 2012)
JÆ: Balls and Kittens, Draught and Strangling Rain (musician) (Hubro 2011)
Lena Nymark: Beautiful Silence (producer) (Grappa 2014)
Highasakite: All that Floats Will Rain (producer/mix) (Riot Factory 2012)
Ine Hoem: The Island EP (producer/mix) (Impeller 2013)
Kyrre Bjørkås: The Big Blot (mix) (Fysisk Format 2017)
Broen: Yoga (mix) (Nabovarsel 2015)
Finland (Qvenild/Grydeland/Hausken/Myhre) (mix) (Hubro 2015)
Ingebjørg Lognvik Reinholdt & Summers/Silvola/Kvam:
Songen om Guro (mix) (Ta:lik 2017)
