Lumen Drones

Lumen Drones are a Norwegian "psychedelic drone rock" trio comprising celebrated traditional hardanger fiddle player Nils Økland, guitarist Per Steinar Lie, and drummer Ørjan Haaland. The latter two are both members of the longstanding post-rock quintet the Low Frequency in Stereo. Their sound is a swirling, dramatic construct of hypnotic rhythms, improvisation, and cinematic drama. The trio's first association took place when Økland was asked to play on LFIS' 2009 album Futuro. After the sessions, a rapport was established and he stayed in touch. In 2010, all three musicians participated -- albeit in separate ensembles -- in a local benefit for Haitian earthquake victims. They also played a collaborative set that went so well, the trio began rehearsing together in a church hall, recording impromptu, improvisational demos over a period of months. During this period they established a sound. The hardanger fiddle offers more harmonic possibilities because of its additional four (in some case five) strings. The band experimented with the different roles of the two stringed instruments, improvising on folk-, psychedelic-, and rock-based ideas and bringing them to bear on a shared dynamic that is often thematic at its center. The shared influences the three members brought to the fore all play a role in their music: Sonic Youth, Durutti Column, the Velvet Underground, the Doors, and the psych-era Dave Pike Set, to name a few. After their demo and rehearsal period were finished, they recorded their self-titled debut album in Oslo with recording and mixing engineer Ketil Ulland in 2011. It was released by ECM in the fall of 2014.
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