Acclaimed Norwegian avant garde pop performance artist and stage actor Nils Bech reveals an alluring new video for the album single “Glimpse of Hope”. Premiered on Dazed today, "Glimpse of Hope" was described as the sound of "soaring, operatic vocals with the sound of cutting edge club music".

 

The video was directed by one of Oslo’s most revered artists, Ida Ekblad, whose artistic practices incorporates painting, sculpture, performance, filmmaking, music and poetry. Her bold and vibrant work, often characterized by the use of found materials is celebrated as a unique take on urban folk art.

 

Shot on location at the director’s home in Ekberg, Oslo, from dusk till dawn, the intriguing and playful video features 21 year old Norwegian fashion photographer and model Jakob Landvik.  Ekblad describes the concept of the video as <<house>> and the elements that make up the film: "There is a household and time to be wasted. Playstation games, a glue-gun, lawn-mowing and ass-selfies, cigarettes, a robe, white wine, make-up, leg shaving, clear eyes and stockings"

 

The elegant use of natural light and movement within "Glimpse of Hope" is credited to the cinematographer Cecilie Semec, whose work has featured in the Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

 

"Glimpse of Hope" follows the release of the theatrical video “Please Stay” earlier this Autumn, which featured a scene between Lady Anne and Richard, taken from Shakespeare's' tragedy 'Richard III', as performed at The National Theatre in Oslo earlier this year.

 

Stream / Share “Glimpse of Hope” (video) and “Please Stay” (video)

 

A favourite of the art world, Nils Bech has performed at such venerable venues and events as Venice Biennial, ICA (London), New Museum (New York) and the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam). He has also featured in two plays at the Norwegian National Theater, most recently in Shakespeare’s Richard III; where he performed excerpts from his third album Echoout now on DFA Records.

 

Already a star at home, Echo is Bech's first album with DFA.  The album explores "echoes" of the people in his life over the past five years; their search for love, how love can deceive and destroy, but also be the key to everything. Sonically, the record infuses urban, contemporary dance music with hip hop roots - hard beats in juxtaposition to Bech’s vulnerable bass-baritone.

 

More on Nils Bech: A busy stage actor and singer already well known in his native Norway for three albums released on Oslo’s Fysisk Format, the keys to the seachange lie with Bech’s new collaborator, the young underground DJ, producer and beatmaker Drippin, known for his work with American rap artists such as LE1F and Cakes Da Killa. As a result, where his previous work was strange, ethereal and otherworldly – completely and utterly unique – Echo throbs with a renewed sense of vigour and urgency, without losing any of the idiosyncratic beauty which marked Bech’s work out before.

 

The sound created here is strange and immediate. Stuttering sharp bass kicks combine with clanging 5-alarm snare drums made of glass, orchestra stabs and melancholy piano lines jump in and out of the arrangements. These new elements and ideas are married to the already singular voice of Nils Bech, with Echo becoming something new, exciting and 100% Norwegian - homegrown and ready for the world. Just listen to new track “Waiting” for evidence of his truly inimitable vision, as martial drums anchor Bech’s floating, weightless vocals, to create something swoonsome, beguiling and defiantly its own creature.

 

The music comes to full fruition when performed live, as proven at two packed performances at the 2016 By Larm Festival where Nils was joined onstage by both Drippin & Øyvind Mathisen, who also produced, arranged and played on the album alongside Bech. Make sure not to miss the completely original and striking sound of Nils Bech.

 

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