Come Shine has always been about making something easy really difficult, and then searching, experimenting and playing their way into something new and better. This band is forever chasing the elusive magic moment. Their ability to always spark a creative renewal, rendering a rebirth of every jazz standard they choose to play; these are key reasons as to why this quartet has stayed together in their lively musical playground for more than two decades.
A band so tightly woven together musically that once the four individualists meet, they breathe like one organism. A band that allows for a shared, deep and continuous musical conversation with the audience. A band that through intense concentration and extraordinary skills makes every concert new and fresh, that makes first-timers and seasoned jazz enthusiasts alike break into tears and wows of wonder. The continuous growth of each musician is amplified by the dynamic created between the four. Both an individual and a parallel musical development has been taking place in the span of these two decades.
FOREVER CHASING THE MOMENT
When hearing a Come Shine tune, the listener cannot help but be struck by how they never ever settle for an easy solution. Their drive and ability to always challenge the chosen path, to always push the music forward, is fascinating. The soundscape gets richer, warmer, more raw, increasingly complex and slightly more uncompromising on every album.
Every concert is unique, a secret shared by the band and the people attending. Come Shine is a unit where the magic truly happens in the interaction with the audience. To be able to present the music to someone, to make a connection with each audience member, motivates and pushes the concentration and deliverance to the max for this quartet. Always chasing the moment, using the on-stage playground as a free space, allows for a safe, fun and ever changing musical expression.
A close-knit musical unit with a unique playful soundscape, each individual musician is an equilibrist on their respective instrument, allowing themselves to dive deep into the music, into the microcosmos of their individual instruments, to get it just right.
THE ART OF SOUNDING LIKE YOURSELF
This quartet has no musical scruples when tearing a standard song apart, yet they reconstruct it in a crazily respectful manner that is just right. Identifying the DNA of the song, pulling elements out of it that nobody else really notices. It is done in the most intelligent and musically sensitive way. The flexibility, the close familiarity and the agile playfulness these musicians allow each other are distinctly identifiable throughout their entire musical catalogue.
There is a distinct Come Shine sound. It is just like that old friend who is always full of surprises. Come Shine is always on the hunt for a new way into an old song, finding small keys to unlock big doors. Like a fine, subtle embroidery, their sound develops from a small melodic theme, suddenly unfolding into a gorgeous and spectacular flower. It is done intuitively, playing their way towards the final result, leaving little gemstones for the listener to find and cherish.
Oslo, July 2020 | Kirsti Svenning
credits
released November 17, 2023
Live Maria Roggen – vocals
Erlend Skomsvoll – piano
Sondre Meisfjord – bass
Håkon Mjåset Johansen – drums
Tracks 1-7: Coming Home 2017-18
Recorded by Trond Kjelsås and Håkon Iversen in front of live audiences.
Tracks 1, 4: at Hege and Asbjørn’s house in Korsvika, Trondheim, Sept 28th 2018
Track 2, 6: Blaafarveværket, Modum, August 13th 2017
Tracks 3, 7, 8: Hellviktangen kunstkafé, Nesodden, February 14th 2017
Track 5: medley of takes from all the locations and dates above
Track 9: Kampen Bistro, Oslo, August 17th 2017
Selected, produced and mixed by Håkon Iversen and Trond Kjelsås April-July 2020
Tracks 10-11: Come Shine’s first demo tape 1998
Recorded by Live Maria Roggen at NTNU studio, Trondheim, on April 15th 1998
WE WISH TO THANK our collaborators in the recording locations: Bente Westergaard at Hellviktangen kunstkafé in Nesodden, Erik Laeskogen and everybody at Kampen Bistro in Oslo, Sverre Følstad and the rest of the staff at Blaafarveværket in Modum, and not least Hege Guldvog and Asbjørn Halvorsen who let us perform in their lovely home in Trondheim.
Thanks to Emil Wieringa Hildebrand and his mates who video filmed us for hours and hours in various venues, and to documentarist Sverre Krüger who allowed us to use his footage from Blaafarveværket.
Many thanks also to the lovely audiences who showed up and shared these concerts with us.
A very special thank you to Håkon Iversen and Trond Kjelsås, who embarked on this remarkable, unpredictable journey with us in 2016, and who’ve stayed dedicated and true to the project’s core all the way.
Heartfelt thanks to Kirsti Svenning for patiently collecting and voicing our stories, and for meeting us with such a friendly and open-minded attitude, always.
Finally: lots and lots of love to our many friends, fans and partners in music through 20 years! It has been a huge privilege to explore jazz tunes in this insistently stubborn, playful way, and to be followed by so many people while doing it. ❤
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