johan arrias
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2023.03.16
Upcoming:
Self Portraits - solo saxophone, releases May 13 2023
Supported by Swedish Arts Council
2023.02.25
READING MUSIC – Volume 1. OUT NOW!
"... luminous, masterfully pitched and delicate"
– Peter Margasak, The Wire, February 2023
Supported by Swedish Arts Council
2020.03.26
Crystalline
"It’s not that often that you hear a really red-blooded, vital improvisational music, making Crystalline a delight for tired ears, indeed."
"It’s as much modern sculpture as it is music."
– forestpunk (forestpunk.wordpress.com)
Crystalline is now available on Vinyl-LP, CD and digital on Bandcamp
2020.02.06
Crystalline
by Arrias-Daies Ullén (Ausculto Fonogram) – releases on March 6, 2020!
Pre-release available via Bandcamp
2019.12.09
POUR ALTO SEUL
När improvisationsmusikern Johan Arrias spelar solosaxofon handlar det om stillsamt sammanfogade stycken där allt går mycket långsamt – eller så är det precisionen som leder till att man tror det.
En del upptäckte säkert Johan Arrias med gruppen Gul 3, vars debutskiva ”Soul” från 2000 kunde förefalla lika influerad av Arvo Pärt som av Lee Konitz. Sedan dess har Arrias, som spelar altsaxofon i likhet med Konitz, fortsatt verka inom improviserad och experimentell musik med dörrar öppna mot såväl jazzen som nutida konstmusik.
Han har en sällsam precision i sitt uttryck, som i högsta grad kommer fram på den här oackompanjerade soloskivan. De stillsamt sammanfogade styckena leder ibland tankarna till engelsmannen Evan Parker, men till skillnad från Parkers cirkulärandningsteknik med lager av ljud jobbar Arrias med en stämma, som sin tur kan spricka upp och bli flera.
Det går mycket långsamt, eller så är det kanske precisionen som leder till att man tror det. Mycket speciellt, själfullt - och vilsamt.
Bästa spår: Hela skivan, i ett svep
– Johannes Cornell, DN, 9 dec 2019
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2019.11.22
POUR ALTO SEUL
Review by Samuele Conficone , Music Map (Italian), verion in english below.
...
Recorded at St. Jacob's Church and Fylkingen in Stockholm, the debut solo album by Johan Arrias (out now on Ausculto Fonogram) is a splendid fresco of the path on which Arrias currently finds himself which, while not seeking to represent all sides of his musical identity, does illustrate his more recent concerns. Arrias explores the saxophone as both voice and sonic source, and this album is a marvellous study of the many souls this instrument can have, eventually leaving the listener with the impression of being alone among ruins, or in an uninhabited city after a nuclear disaster – but where destruction seems to prevail it is still possible to find the flower about to bloom, a sign of rebirth and resilience.
The album begins with 'Lament', a desolate and dramatic piece in which solitude and despair are highlighted as alluring poetic principles. Old remains that cross the listener's path emerge in 'Ruins', which comes across as a series of fragments rather than a single track. Images of funeral marches and scenes of apocalypse are conjured by 'Resonance' and 'Wind Variations', while 'Abandoned City' hides muses which seem to observe – distant and impassive – a scene of total emptiness in an almost metaphysical silence.
The saxophone is voiced through caresses, noises, whistles and vibrations. The splendid 'Abandoned City' is in this respect emblematic of the album as a whole. 'Wind Variations' and 'Impromptu' try to coax the fullest range of sounds – including the uncanny ones – from the saxophone; while throughout there is a palpable role-play between performer and instrument – something which explodes on 'Rivers', a track simultaneously perturbing, sweet and mysterious. The album finishes with a brilliant tribute to celebrated Italian composer Luigi Nono, simply and aptly titled 'For Luigi Nono'.
In addition to exploring the saxophone and attempting to stretch the boundaries of the instrument's vocabulary, the many genres and techniques that Arrias has encountered here coexist; and perhaps somewhat because of his own personal background (Arrias' grandfather is from Suriname), the album demonstrates a willingness to engage and experiment with 'world music' and sonorities of non-European origin.
- Samuele Conficoni, MusicMap.it
(transl. from italian - Eugenio Luciano, proof reading and adjustments - Jon Collin)
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2019.11.22
2019.10.17
Pour Alto Seul - available on CD/digital via Bandcamp.
2019.10.03
Pour Alto Seul (ausculto fonogram). Out on October 17!
Pre-release available via Bandcamp
2019.05.23
Live at Himera, Titanik, Turku, Finland
Johan Arrias-clarinet, Topias Tiheäsalo-guitar, Jaakko Tolvi - perc.