sekten

Music for Exercise - Headband

This release is filled with music written and packaged to be listened to while exercising - developed by the Scandinavian music and performance ensemble Sekten. You can plug your favorite pair of headphones or earbuds right into the headband, put it on, and listen to the music while you sweat, or plug the unit into a large sound system via mini-jack cable if you want to share it while you work out as a group.
This is Sekten’s take on how workout music could (and should) be, and the music on this headband unit has been created specifically for the purpose of being listened to while exercising. The idea came from a need to reexamine our relationship with workout music, and frustration with the status-quo. For the members of Sekten - and for lots of people around the world who get up out of bed or off the couch to push themselves physically every day - the music we are commonly steered toward as “workout music” does not motivate, inspire, or energize as intended, but instead, triggers stubbornness, resistance, and the occasional temper tantrum. In recognizing the importance and joy in moving one’s body, Sekten dove into research on how music and exercise can actually work together, reading studies on the subject, trying several interval-based methods and training structures on their own bodies, and then putting their findings to good use, by creating the product that you now have before you. There are variations in mood, tempo and output throughout the music – just as a good workout session should be diverse, so should the musical motivator. There are no specific instructions for how to exercise to this music… the members of Sekten exercise their bodies in a variety of different ways, from weightlifting to Pilates and mountain climbing. Just choose your methods of listening and moving, hit PLAY, and enjoy.

Mäktiga Vingar

Med det nye album viser orkestret endnu engang deres åbenlyse talent for alternativ sangskrivning fremført med unik spilleglæde og intuition. Musikken er energisk og subtil, og i den rå lyd kan man fornemme det knirkende gamle hus pladen er indspillet i. De to svenske sangerinder folder sig ud og ind i orkesterets pendling mellem historiefortælling og lydæstetiske eksperimenter.
Spejlblanke melodier dukker op på lag af rytmer og improvisationer spillet med frygtløs spontanitet. Alskens sindsstemninger bliver afsøgt på ”Mäktiga Vingar”.

annars är det tyst

SEKTEN is a six piece band with members from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, ready to release their passionately odd debut album. Though their existence has only been a few years, the reputations about this Copenhagen based ensemble and their distinguished yet slightly bizarr concerts has spread through the Scandinavian underground jazz scene, creating a curiosity and amazement along their way.
A great part of SEKTENs vision is to create a universe where the listener is invited to be part of a naive-abstract story. Managing to entwine the contrasting pieces of music in an elegant and suprising way, their debut album "Annars är det tyst" appears to be a modern ten piece suite, perfomed by six great musicians.
They have an incredible way of colouring the music in each of their own way, due to their different musical backgrounds, still all of them with a clear connection to various forms of improvised music.
This ensemble consists of two female singers, that performs dark and light contrasts both soundwise as well as in matter of atmosphere, a guitar player with a flair for buttons and weird noises, a bass player with both intense minimalism and a ragged expression, a lyrical and contemplative piano player with a focus on prepared piano and finally a drummer that has a unique understanding of groove and timbre.
The music is influenced by various genres such as jazz, minimalism, chansons and all sorts of noisy music. The swedish lyrics combined with made-up words and sounds, creates mysterious and at times humorous and slightly happy stories.
The album is written and produced by all the members of SEKTEN, and the ten songs include both thorughlly arranged and entirely improvised parts. An album that spans from beauty to manic, from intimacy to aggression, letting the listener in to an unforgettable musical experience.