A15
Martin Stender has teamed up with star bass player Torleik Mortensen from the emerging Torshavn
scene. A15 is beautiful Nordic sounding music but the two interact playfully and add electronic
effects and sampling which makes it very unlike what you’d expect from a saxophone / double bass
duo.
Torleik plays in all sorts of Faroese bands Hettarher, Konni Kass, Svartmálm and also their
symphony orchestra. In recent years he has also stepped into to the role of musical producer with
great succes.
Martin is the composer behind Girls in Airports and Night Repair.
route.
He has also written most of the
melodies for A15, but the actual arrangements are created by both members and a lot of what is
going on is improvisation.
Torleik and Martin met through music as teenagers in Denmark back in the 90s and shared an
appartment in Copenhagen while they were students at the RMC.
A15 is the main road between Aarhus and Herning where the two grew up and for them it
symbolises the right path that you so easily loose track of. All the titles are actual places on the A15
The sprawling music scene in Torshavn, where Torleik has lived for the past ten years, is a big part
of what A15 is really about. It is a smaller scene so musicians aren’t divided into genres like in
bigger cities and that can be an advantage.
At one of their concerts songwriter Teitur Lassen was in the audience. Though jazz is normally not
at all his genre he imideatly invited the two to come and record in his studio.There they recorded
the three tracks Åen, Klang og Skyggehøj and Teitur took on the role of adding live processing
effects to the saxophone – really adding his creative touch almost as a third member.
The debut album is out on the label TUTL in the fall 2022 and the band will tour around Torshavn
in June 2022.