Beatrice Dillon Remixes Bendik Giske’s “Rise And Fall”
from Giske’s forthcoming self-titled album, Bendik Giske, out June 9th on Smalltown Supersound
Photo by Luke Abby
Producer and electronic musician Beatrice Dillon presents her remix of Bendik Giske’s “Rise And Fall,” a track from Giske’s forthcoming self-titled album, Bendik Giske, out June 9th on Smalltown Supersound. Dillon serves as Bendik Giske’s producer, and posed a challenge to Giske at the sessions’ start: to strip away some of his defining features in order to explore, in her words, an “unadorned and elemental approach.” “Rise And Fall” (Beatrice Dillon Remix) is both minimal and all-consuming, centering around propulsive and skittering production before Giske’s signature saxophone comes in and layers the track with intricacies. Giske’s performance reiterates that he is in his prime as an artist: confident in his voice and abilities, buoyed by critical acclaim from all corners — including two Norwegian Grammy nominations — and a surge in audiences everywhere.
Under the guidance of Dillon, Bendik Giske sees the saxophonist honing in on pattern and rhythm to bring out a different dimension of his mesmerizing sound. Throughout the recording and mixing process, Dillon’s belief in spaciousness allowed Giske’s sound to breathe and resonate all the more vividly. Where Giske’s 2021 album, Cracks , observed him “[developing] an entirely new vocabulary for his instrument, using electronic treatments to yield a curiously disembodied sound” (Pitchfork), Bendik Giske is akin to musical full-frontal nudity — every detail, every huff and puff audible, no obscuring, no aestheticising. It’s the sound of social emancipation through the meditative pulse and velocity of circular breathing and the dance of the body, especially fingers, tongue, and lips. Giske knows that music can be a powerful tool in bringing people together to find ideas, and the longevity of his project is at its utmost a call for care, togetherness, storytelling, and the ability to gather for a shared cause. In all earnestness, Bendik Giske is a proposal for truthfulness and existence, a space for one to express their most profound self.
Bendik Giske cover art