Bendik Gisk releases his debut album, Surrender via Smalltown Supersound. Giske’s mesmerizing debut takes listeners on a true journey through the euphoria and wanderlust of nights spent clubbing — using little more than his voice, his instrument of choice, and more than a few well-placed microphones. An impressively coherent statement that brims with purpose and energy, Surrender heralds Giske’s arrival as an artist unafraid to think outside the confines of his artistry and pursue the furthest-flung ideas with successful aplomb. Born in Oslo and splitting much of his adolescence between his home city and Bali, Giske grew up in an artistic household and took up the saxophone at the age of 12. As the years progressed, so did his comfort with the instrument, which inspired him to push the boundaries of what he could accomplish creatively with it. After spending much of the previous decade racking up contributions to others’ works, including several albums from Norwegian performance artist Nils Bech, Giske was inspired to conceive Surrender after a fateful trip to a notorious Berlin club. Recorded at Oslo’s Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, Giske and producer Amund Ulvestad conceived of the method in which they placed tiny microphones over the saxophonist’s instrument and body, right down to being able to capture his breathing between notes. Instrumental music is often at its best when telling a story within the notes it contains, and by that measure Surrender is an absolute triumph — an extremely relatable work of art for anyone who’s ever had a moment in a crowded room and felt themselves changing amidst the chaos of the world surrounding them.
