Description
Since before the pandemic, Bendik Hofseth has been working on his magnum opus Forest , consisting of four albums that address all the components of the tree – with Munch's tree paintings as an overarching concept.
As always, Bendik Hofseth finds himself between genres. Too jazz for the pop crowd and too pop for the jazz crowd. "Enough jazz," says Bendik himself, who refuses to put himself in a box. On Forest , which was recorded over a period of four years, he has both thought new things, but at the same time looked back on his more than 40 years in Norwegian music life. The box is a kind of combination of everything Bendik has done in these years.
Trunks (2021) – jazz
Branches (2022) – pop
Roots (2023) – jazz/world/contemporary music
Pollen & Leaves (2024) – jazz/pop/contemporary music/world miniatures
The albums are collected in a box ( Forest ) and also contain a huge booklet ( Trees ) with texts about trees by everyone from social scientists, Munch experts, priests, psychologists, etc.
With him on the albums are Eivind Aarset (guitar), Mats Eilertsen (bass), Per Oddvar Johansen (drums), Helge Iberg (piano), Sidiki Camara (percussion), Mike Mainieri (vibraphone), Simon Darlow (vocals) and the Engegård Quartet (string quartet).
The album was awarded a 6 in Nettavisen, which concluded with the following:
"Bendik Hofseth is an artist who doesn't compromise. This time the bar is higher than ever and he's going above and beyond."
The box is printed in 200 copies.