Åke Parmerud

Bruit Noir collects three works that Åke Parmerud realized in his studio in Gothenburg between 2013 and 2021, conceived for stereo, 8 and 24 channels and presented here in stereo.

The main piece, Louder Than Life (2020-21), is a 33-minute work in five movements, from Adagio to Coda, dedicated to the memory of his closest friend, the composer Anders Blomqvist (1956-2020). The two had performed together across Europe from the late 1980s, in live shows that included fireworks. The work can be heard whole or in single movements; it premiered in Vienna in 2021 at the festival Echoes Around Me, and its Adagio shared first prize in the senior category at the 12th Métamorphoses competition in 2022.

Raw (2013) was written for Geiger, a new music organisation in Gothenburg with a taste for noise. Parmerud used a single source, the Skrewell software synth by Native Instruments, the most uncontrollable he had met, and kept its raw output with no processing or effects, combining prerecorded material with live playing. He admits it failed as a noise piece and is still happy with the result, made in less than a week. Dark Matter (2018), commissioned by the Dias de Música Electroacústica festival in Portugal, makes audible the electromagnetic fields of microwave ovens, phones, computers and light bulbs, recorded with special sensors, which make up some 90 % of the piece.

Born in Lidköping in 1953, Parmerud trained as a photographer before studying music in Gothenburg. Since Närheter won first prize at Bourges in 1978 he has received 17 international prizes and two Swedish Grammis awards, and he has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since 1998.

CD in OGpak, empreintes DIGITALes IMED 22179, 2022.