Single nr. 4: Two Miniatures for Tap Dance and Drums, with Michaela Antalová

Michaela Antalová is a drummer with a great sense for detail, timing and subtlety. I knew her from a couple of improvisations, and was very curious how it would be to record music with her. We met at Urban Sound Studios and set up our stuff. This music studio is a typical one, with several booths for recording, a big window between the sound engineer’s room and the studio, and an enormous console for him to work with. Jock was sitting there, hearing the music through the microphones, and talking to us through a speaker in the studio. Since we wanted to record at the same time, together, not separately, Jock did his best to put up walls between me and Michaela, wanting to limit how much our sounds would bleed into each other's microphones. After a short sound check we started recording, without any preparations or agreements. The only thing we decided on beforehand was to aim for relatively short tracks of 5-7 minutes. We then listened to the recordings, and spoke about what we liked about them before improvising some more of the same material, and then choosing the two tracks that we wanted for the album. 

The music I make with Michaela can have a beat and a groove, but more important is the out-of-time placing of sounds that are similar to the other player's instrument. In the end, it’s hard to distinguish our sounds from each other. We both happened to have several toys with us, and a lot of the small sounds are coming from a plastic play drum and a tiny music box. To me, it feels like we’re making microscopic music, hyper aware, with the ears close to the source, full of textures and a feeling of space. In contrast to most of the recordings of this album we listened to the tracks right away, and used what we had heard to make better choices in the next round. We were super sensitive and aware of sound, silence and timing. I felt like I had to be totally ready for anything in my body, but at the same time be very sparse in what I chose to play. There was a suspense and alertness which made me carry myself in a different way. At some point this was released into a rolling groove.

​About Michaela Antalová
​Michaela Antalová is a Slovak drummer living in Oslo, traveling worldwide to perform solo concerts and to play with different projects. Michaela is an active composer and writes for both bands, larger ensembles and percussionists. Her music contains complex textures arranged with different orchestrations that change gradually with nuances. Leading her own ensemble Mikoo and touring with her solo drum performances, Michaela drifts through genres playing a variety of percussion, hand drums and drum kit. She is occupied by exploring improvisation in many settings and using this experience in baroque, world, singer-songwriter and experimental music.

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Improvised by Michaela Antalová (drums and more) and Janne Eraker (tap dance on wood, sand, play drum, loose taps)
Recorded and mixed by Jock Loveband at Urban Sound Studios