Transparence by Hitra (Hilmar Jensson, Alessandro Sgobbio, Jo Berger Myhre, Øyvind Skarbø)


Hitra plays imaginative original music and improvisations. Its debut album “Transparence” is a genre-fluid journey into imaginary, lost and hidden places.

Born at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Hitra has already recorded and performed in concert in Norway.

Inspired by a Norwegian county which covers hundred islands, islets and skerries, Hitra comprehends four artists who have extensively investigated contemporary forms through their personal careers: guitarist Hilmar Jensson from Iceland, pianist Alessandro Sgobbio from Italy, bassist Jo Berger Myhre and drummer Øyvind Skarbø from Norway.

The opening track “Lebtit” (written by Alessandro Sgobbio) evokes the homonym lost city, whose mysterious story can be found in “One thousand and one nights“ as well as Jorge Louis Borges and Georges Perec books. Jo Berger Myhre’s solo theme on “The Perfect Light Of Sandstad” (a village of the Hitra municipality) introduces Hilmar Jensson’s guitar solo on “Cité Des Poètes” (an elegy to the recently-demolished adventurous housing project in the Parisian suburbs). The band-collective dialogue on “Labtayt” and “To See Was To Be”, features Øyvind Skarbø’s oneiric percussions, bells, papers and whistles.

Since his debut piano solo album “Aforismi Protestanti”, Alessandro keeps expanding his own personal vocabulary of compositions, improvisations and spiritual explorations throughout music. He’s earned master’s degrees at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo) and the Boito Conservatory of Music (Parma), releasing 15 albums as a leader/co-leader.

Photo © Jeff Sales

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