The Setting

This stunning ten-song record brings to fruition a seed that Eivind Opsvik has been carrying with him for about a decade. Sounds and sensibilities that have enchanted the composer and bassist take form in a very particular combination long dreamt of: The Setting honors Opsvik’s love of 70s and 80s synthesizer music, ECM solo guitar albums, and experimental art pop, but sets these aesthetics in a considered conversation with boldly acoustic elements like the earthy upright bass, acoustic guitar, and harpsichord.

This juxtaposition, only emphasized by the conspicuous and artful absence of a drummer, makes for a dreamlike listening experience, persuasive and melancholic –– inviting rumination and playing with though never fully giving into nostalgia. The Setting is uncanny.