hwyl
nofio - a marriage of dilemmas being resolved in another space
hwyl nofio is a group that defies simple classification. Variously described as experimental, avant-garde, ambient, contemporary classical, free improvisation, the enigmatic collective specialises in music that blurs the boundaries that usually define genres. hwyl nofio (the name translates from welsh roughly as ‘emotional swimmers’) came about in 1997, it is an evolving ensemble based around its originator Steve Parry, who had previously worked with Matt Johnson of the the and Colin Potter of Nurse With Wound. “Steve Parry explores and exploits an ongoing collision between harmony and disharmony. Largely built around Parry’s abstract guitar patterns the music shifts between drone, embryonic melody and crackling elemental noise, replacing rock's normal linear dynamic with a series of fractured dialogues in which disfigured musical elements collide and merge with abstract blocks of sound” There are currently four hwyl nofio albums, The Singers And Harp Players Are Dumb, Hymnal, Anatomy of Distort and Hounded By Fury. HOUNDED BY FURY - the ensembles’ latest album - was recorded over a two-year period. The album includes material recorded live, with contributions from Danish fractal guitarist Fredrik Soegaard, Hungarian guitarist Sandor Szabo, Gorwel Owen, Trevor Stainsby and Mark Powell.
(‘ ‘ With thanks to Tom Ridge)
hwyl nofio: instrumentalists
steve parry (fender guitar/prepared guitars/fender acoustic/bowed guitar/banjo/viola/Church organ/prepared piano/found sounds/flute/cello) – numerous projects including the solo works ‘Solitary Lands’ and ‘Catharsis of Industry’.
fredrik soegaard (guitar, midi fractal image converter) as ‘the soegaard ensemble’ ‘Multiverse’, ‘Chronox’’ and solo recordings including “And We Also Caught A Fish” released on Leo Lab records)
sandor szabo (ambimorph guitar processing) - numerous projects as experimental trio Szamaba, plus solo recordings for Leo Records.
mark beazley/rothko (bass) with
numerous projects as “rothko”, including ‘a continual search
for origins’, on Too Pure records and ‘a negative for francis’
on lo recordings
trevor stainsby (sound processing) has previously worked with Bowie/Iggy Pop guitarist Ricky Gardiner.
balazs major (percussion) –
numerous different projects for East European record labels including Szamaba
with Sandor
tim crawley (prepared piano)
mark powell (sax)
the oedipus ensemble (Strings)
gorwel owen (imagined banjo – a member/producer of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Super Furry Animals)