Anders Rogg - Lyden av lys

If you wish to reach for a silence, get your pulse down, open up for reflection, or just to “be”, then it’s our hope that this music might help on the way

There is so much to enjoy in our daily lives, but at the same time we are dominated by stress, unrest and pain. It is so easy to feel powerless and to lose faith in our own strengths. There’s precious little time for reflection, for controlling the speed of events. Instead we seem to get higher status by not having the time, by being busy and unavailable.

This “fast forward” kind of life could sometimes do with a counterweight, and this is part of the reason why the music on this recording is so slow. Restlessness is one of today’s most common characteristics. Could it be that our unrest is also a sign of fear for silence? Human closeness, both physical and mental, is somehow lacking in our culture. Closeness through music is possible, and our hope is that this album provides a sense of presence, an entrance into something that we can all share. This something is signified by expressions such as peace of mind, contentment, silence, a kind of “massage for the soul”. If you get close to any of this through this music, the recording has served its purpose.

The initial idea for the project was to make music for the seriously ill and dying. This perspective became too limited: at some point we are all dying. The Tibetans talk about the bardo states, the imperceptible everyday changes, where the challenge always will be to let go, to listen, to meet and to act according to needs.