Sofie Birch & Johan Carøe - Repair Techniques LP
〰 Sofie Birch is a sound artist and producer known for her extensive work with soft ambient releases, live shows, animation films and art installations. With electronic hardware and field recordings, she creates melodic compositions that are produced with a sense of brightness and spirit encouraging its listeners to dream and dwell. She has a profound interest in the healing nature of sound and vibrations and works across disciplines with other artists on expanding our understanding of mind and body through art.
When performing, Sofie Birch uses hardware machines to build spirited and improvised live shows and her highlights include appearances at CTM Festival, Roskilde Festival, NTS Remote Utopias, Ars Cameralis, Copenhagen Contemporary and Strøm Festival. Furthermore she is engaged in creating compositions for installation works varying from award winning VR-experiences and animation films to multidisciplinary art and science projects counting continuous collaborations with artist duo Baum & Leahy (UK) and animation director Pernille Kjaer (DK).
Recently Sofie Birch released the deep listening work Behind Her Name Chestnuts Fall Forever for Longform Editions (AUS). Earlier in 2020 she released Hidden Terraces (DE), a musical sound piece exploring wild bird life and ambiences in Colombia. In 2019 her album Island Alchemy (CA) was reviewed by Pitchfork with the words “If this is music for dreamers, it’s for the ones who pay close attention to the details in their nighttime reveries, for whom every small moment is full of meaning”.
Sofie Birch has resided as DJ on Retreat Radio, MMH Radio and Noods Radio in addition to her monthly DJ residency at NTS this year.
〰 Johan Carøe has been working primarily as a film composer, producer and collaborator, but in 2019 he released the ep ‘zenmetal’ followed by the debut album ‘Lovesongs’ 2020 and the ep ‘wyla’ in early 2021. His solo work and live sets ranges from softcore string and synth-minimalisme to maximalism and power ambient, through processed classical instruments, noise and synthesis. With collaborations as a core value in Johan’s work, 2021 will bring new releases with fellow composer Sofie Birch and New Zealand artpop artist Merk.
Johan is a co-runner of the local community label No Technique and performes often in his hometown Copenhagen as part of the local scene. He has performed internationally in Montreal as part of RBMA, opening for Suzanne Ciani and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and played Sonar Reykjavik.
Notes
Pump organ, cello, synths and voices by Johan Carøe.
Clarinet, chimes, guitar, synths and voices by Sofie Birch.
Produced by Sofie Birch and Johan Carøe.
Mixed in collaboration with Pape Arce (Sound And Vision Productions)
Mastered by Mathieu Savenay
Photo by Pedro Ramos
Design by Joke Leonare