Andreas Utnem

Composer with new release that lifts the listener’s spirits

Put on Andreas Utnem’s new album “Du kjenner meg” [You know me]. Let the music fill you. Let the melodies he has composed and the piano he plays flow through you for the album’s 45 minutes. KKV, the publisher, guarantees that you will feel enriched and comforted, and more energized than before.

This is not only due to the warmth of a musical sound landscape filled with depth and power. The five singers and four musicians deserve much of the honour for the effect this album has. Moreover, a contemporary poet named Jon Fosse and an ancient poet we know as King David have created immortal lyrics. They deal with the darkness and the light living in the darkness. Some of the texts can be called hymns. Others are free poetry echoing the language of hymns.

The soloists sharing the lyrics with us, all set to music and arranged by Andreas Utnem, are Tuva Syvertsen, Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen, Julie Kleive, Andrea Bræin Hovig and Julius Winger. The musicians are Pål Hausken (drums), Jo Berger Myhre (bass and guitars) and Trygve Seim (saxophone). One of the tracks also features Gjermund Larsen on violin. Andreas Utnem plays harmonium in addition to grand piano.

For years, Andreas Utnem has composed music for theatrical productions and for the Wednesday divine services in Tøyen Church, operated by the Church City Mission. The music on this release is from both these fields. As a composer, Utnem has a particular gift in writing appealing melodies and also has a way of giving his arrangements an improvisational, organic and dynamic expression.

The album has been recorded in Tøyenkirken in Oslo by Erik Hillestad, who is also the producer.

"Du kjenner meg”

Andreas Utnem

Kirkelig Kulturverksted 2023