We had to try and remember what the track we recorded with Jack in July was called earlier in the week. I had no idea, luckily Kirsty reckons it was called “Ulversdalen” or “Wolfvalley” so we went with that… it’s going to be a split with the majestic Spoono on the audioMER label from Belgium.
Dug out a reasonably condensed interview with did with BBC Manchester a little while ago which explains somethings, not all but quite a few. Transcript is below.
Who is in the band?
“Kirsty sings, plays the violin and recorders. David plays guitar, sings and jew’s harp. We are occasionally supported by Nick on percussion.”
What type of music do you play?
“We play our own readings of Scandinavian folk melodies, building new arrangements around old tunes.”
What’s the Kalbakken story?
“Well, we are siblings so we have played music together in one form or another for a long time!
“This particular group came about from improvisations and the chance idea to try playing a Norwegian song our mother, who hails from those parts, had sung us as children. It all spiralled from there really; speaking with her about other melodies, researching in libraries, books, audio.
“This was all about three years ago – at a certain point, David of Little Red Rabbit asked us to play a gig and so off we went and carried on playing from there.”
How are things going?
“We haven’t won anything, unless you count a pub quiz a few years ago, but we’re doing okay.
“We have played all over the UK, toured in Spain and Portugal, we recently played a really great festival in London called the 2:13, which went really well. Hopefully, we’re touring Spain and Portugal again next Easter.
“Then the new record comes out and we’ll be touring the UK and further reaches across mainland Europe again.”
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David Birchall 