The Dust Would Not Settle on the Organs

Organ Sound Art Festival: Mads Emil Dreyer, Gamut inc., Aron Dahl & Mija Milovic

These days, Organ Sound Art Festival is taking place in its familiar setting at KoncertKirken, and yesterday marked the festival’s second day. The concert opened with revivals of Mads Emil Dreyer’s Vidder 1 and 4, along with a newly composed interlude for pump organ, house organ, keys, and bass flute – all instruments amplified. In this way, Dreyer obscured the sources of the sounds and created a beautiful interplay between the acoustic, the amplified, and the played-back. Was it the flute or the organ I was hearing? And did the sound come from an instrument or a loudspeaker? The music bore the mark of drone music, with beautiful dissonances and a tonal development that occasionally peeked through. Enchanting and compelling.

In the next performance, the German duo Gamut inc. had fitted the church organ with two robots, allowing a computer to control the instrument. Unfortunately, I was left wondering whether the robots were properly calibrated, or whether the music had been composed for a church space with significantly more reverberation. In any case, it sounded »MIDI-dead« – a bit like a silly »piano roll« video of an obscure serial work.

The duo Aron Dahl & Mija Milovic concluded the evening with music whose tenderness and honesty might recall The xx – if the British indie rock group were playing on out-of-tune house organs. Still, the music became somewhat monotonous, and their setup appeared underutilized.

The slightly mixed experience of the evening’s program does not change the fact that Organ Sound Art Festival is an atmospheric and ambitious festival that dares to take chances when presenting us with new works for an instrument that many still associate with bygone days. This Copenhagen-based festival is anything but dusty.

playlist

31.08

My name is Pablo Fernández – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music is my life. It has accompanied me all the way and given me experiences, friendships and opportunities that I could never have imagined.«

Pablo Fernández is a Spanish musician and the new Head of Classical Music at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg. For many years, he was principal tuba player with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and has taught at higher music education institutions in Spain and Denmark. He is also active as a conductor, soloist, guest lecturer and jury member at international competitions. Fernández has extensive experience in the management and development of music projects, festivals and international collaborations. He has lived in Aarhus since 2014 and has been affiliated with the Royal Academy of Music since 2021.

playlist

29.08

We are Nightmaries – would you like to see our playlist?

»Music is, to us, a kind of closed club of nepotism, networking and Copenhagen cowboy energy. But in reality, it’s got nothing to do with expensive guitars or technical skill. For us, music is something you can feel in your chest, or something that gives you goosebumps. The best concerts are when someone screams so earnestly that the rest of us don’t have to. The best music expresses emotions in a way that would get you picked up by an ambulance if you did it out on the street. For us, music should fuck with the people who have it too comfortable, and give those who have it fucked a feeling that they’re not alone. Boom. And what the fuck is a chord and a key anyway? Kisses from Nightmaries.«

Nightmaries blend saws, guitars and voices into a dark-country, no-wave, cowboy-doom nightmare. They create the kind of soundtrack that feels like a fever dream you somehow don’t want to wake up from. As the world gets stranger and darker, Nightmaries lean into the madness, serving up slow-burning songs that creep under your skin like a poison that takes its sweet time. Put on your favourite steel-toe boots, dip your smoky eyes in an ashtray, and prepare yourself for sloppy doom with punk energy.

playlist

21.08

Mit navn er Fenja – vil du se min playliste?

»To me, music is love. I love how music allows you to skip the small talk and connect directly with people’s innermost selves. It is an extraordinary and moving way to meet one another.«

Fenja wrote her first song at the age of twelve – about a polar bear dying due to climate change – and themes of existentialism, nature, and her own sensitive nature came to define the lyrics and sound she has since developed. She released her debut album, Flugtdyr, in 2021, and in February 2026, she released the album Menneskedyr.

news

12.08

Sofus Forsberg (1970–2026)

Danish composer Sofus Forsberg has died at the age of 56. With his distinctive blend of melodic sensibility, electronic processing and rhythmic precision, he created a musical world that moved effortlessly between IDM, pop and the avant-garde.

playlist

11.08

Mit navn er Tue Track – vil du se min playliste?

»Music for me is my hobby, my job, my outlet, my mood, an endless source of discovering new music and new, old music, some of the best and can be some of the worst. And I love it!«

Track72 aka Tue Track aka Anders Lundby Brixen. Producer, DJ, rapper and more. Known for his role in the trio Malk De Koijn, which since the mid-1990s has created a personal universe in Danish hip-hop. Has performed in Ponyblod, Xtra Naan, Track Abdullah Rock, Booty Cologne and others.