On Friday July 2nd Panzerpappa will release the first part of an ambitious project, Siløvingar (Norwegian for “Exercises in Style”), based on and inspired by Raymond Queneau’s book «Exercises de Style» from 1947.

The book retells the same story 99 times, every time in a different style. Accordingly, Panzerpappa decided to compose 99 variations on the same musical theme. Taking inspiration from Queneau, all variations differ in style and genre, utilizing widely different instrumentations. The only restriction is that at least one of the band members must contribute either as a composer or as a performer on all variations.

The project was initiated as early as in 2003, but was subsequently shelved a year later due to its daunting scope. Then in January 2021, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the band decided to pick up where they left off. The main reason for the newfound enthusiasm for the project was the radical changes to music distribution seen since 2004. Today, digitally releasing individual tracks, one by one, only to compile them into an album at the end, is much simpler and more commonplace.

This is precisely the plan set out by the band. They have given themselves 5 years to complete the project. This implies that the band on average will have to compose, record and release 20 variations per year all through 2025. During the course of these years, Panzerpappa will present the original theme in styles such as french café-music, disco, funk, soul, hip-hop, bluegrass, blues, dixieland, electro-pop, avant rock, thrash metal, Bach fugue, Palestrina motet, brass fanfare, 12-tone music, mini symphony, march, and big band á la Mingus, and there will be variations inspired by artists such as Can, This Heat, Charles Mingus, Henry Cow, Ennio Morricone, Iannis Xenakis and Magma, to name but a few.

This will be an extremely multifaceted journey of discovery through music. In addition, it will serve as an opportunity, arena and platform for Panzerpappa to honour the composers and artists who have had the strongest influence on the band and its separate members.

On Friday July 2nd, the first part of Exercises in Style will be released through the band’s site on Bandcamp ([ Ссылка ]). The exercises released are:


1. Notat [Notation] - the original theme, French café music
2. Fordobling [Double Entry] - disco
3. Litoter [Litotes] - country/folk
4. Metafor [Metaphorically] - Black Sabbath meets heavy prog

All titles are (and forever will be) taken from Ragnar Hovland’s incredible translation of Queneau’s book, which has also given name to the project.

We look forward to the journey. Hope you'll join us!
Panzerpappa
Stiløvingar
2021 - 2025

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