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RIK (new album!)

by Harald Lassen (official)

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card
    Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

      €10 EUR  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The RIK vinyl edition features iconic cover art by Jan Freuchen and exclusive liner notes by acclaimed rapper and lyricist Ivan Ave. Thoughtfully designed with a matte finish and high-quality paper, this is a record that feels as good in your hands as it sounds on your turntable

    Includes unlimited streaming of RIK (new album!) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 45 
    Purchasable with gift card

      €25 EUR

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The RIK CD features iconic cover art by Jan Freuchen and exclusive liner notes by acclaimed rapper and lyricist Ivan Ave. Thoughtfully designed with a matte finish and high-quality paper, this is a record that feels as good in your hands as it sounds inside your player

    Includes unlimited streaming of RIK (new album!) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €15 EUR or more 

     

1.
Ambisiøs Luft (D.S.) 08:48
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2.
Venner i N 02:52
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3.
Risset i Meg 05:04
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4.
Lite Sted 03:18
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5.
No Aent 08:55
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6.
Trist Arpeggio 05:16
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7.
Romantikk & Rytme 02:32
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about

Includes exclusive liner notes by ivan Ave

Norwegian saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Harald Lassen returns with RIK, a vibrant and exploratory new album that picks up the threads of his acclaimed Balans - the album that earned him a Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy) - and weaves them into something stranger, softer, and more surprising. “It’s the little brother,” Lassen says. “Same blood, same environment, but making different choices.”

Across seven tracks, RIK builds a world that is both cinematic and deeply intimate. The title, taken from the Norwegian word for “rich,” gestures toward multiple forms of wealth: personal, musical, emotional, ecological. Each track title points to this too, whether it's “Lite Sted” (Small Place), “Risset i meg” (Etched Into Me), or “No Aent” (Something Else).
These aren’t just poetic abstractions; they’re coordinates on a personal map of meaning.

Lassen performs on saxophone, piano, flute, synth, melodica, glockenspiel, vocals and percussion. He’s joined by a versatile ensemble: Solveig Wang (synths, clarinet), Sander Eriksen Nordahl (guitars), Stian Andersen (bass, acoustic guitar), and Tore Flatjord (drums, percussion). Together they create a sonic landscape that moves fluidly between composed passages and open improvisation, always alive with possibility.
Album opener “Ambisiøs Luft (D.S.)”(Ambitious Air) is a sweeping, nine-minute statement, at once introspective and commanding, heavily influenced by Dmitri Shostakovich (the “D.S.” of the title). It’s a fanfare, a soliloquy, a storm. The contrasting track “Venner i N” (Friends in N) - inspired by Lassen’s Arne Næss-influenced philosophy of “N,” a space of improvisation, connection, and Nature - offers melodic complexity underpinned by subtle tension. “No Aent” (Something Else) was improvised entirely in studio, including the sax solo part which emerged in deep interplay with synthist Solveig Wang: “It was a magical moment,” Lassen recalls. “It felt like something completely different - ‘no aent’ - and to dare to do, be, or live something different ... that’s a kind of richness.”
Elsewhere, “Trist Arpeggio” (Sad Arpeggio) offers a modernist lament that unfolds in motion, while “Lite Sted” is all pastoral charm and mischief, a meandering jazz caprice that recalls Scandi-folk and childhood daydreams in equal measure.
Romantikk & Rytme” (Romance & Rhythm) begins as if it might blossom into a 60s groove but blooms instead into something more delicate—a piece of baroque jazz with a twist of the surreal.
There’s a cinematic feel throughout, reminiscent of 60s European soundtracks, but it ́is not nostalgic. This is an album about the present, layered with a Norwegian sense of place and pace. Jazz here is not only a genre but a grammar for expressing both freedom and form.

Adding another layer of texture to the release are liner notes by Ivan Ave, the internationally acclaimed Norwegian rapper and lyricist. His contribution stands on its own as a miniature literary work: part reflection, part sensory essay, part mythmaking. His writing deepens the experience of RIK, articulating what the music implies: that richness isn’t about resolution or clarity, but the air between the leaves, the tension in not quite knowing.

credits

released August 15, 2025

Harald Lassen: saxophone, piano, flute, synth, melodica, glockenspiel, vocals and percussion

Solveig Wang: synths, clarinet

Sander Eriksen Nordahl: guitars

Stian Andersen: electric bass

Tore Flatjord: drums, percussion


All music written and produced by Harald Lassen

Recorded in Paradiso Studio, Oslo. June 2024
Recorded & mixed by: Marcus Forsgren
Mastering: George Tanderø
Cover art: Jan Freuchen
Cover design: Ferdinand Widmer

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Harald Lassen (official) Oslo, Norway

Hey there and welcome!! "Saxophonist, band leader and free spirit Harald Lassen is a child of the highly creative and music scene in Oslo. Harald´s music is jazz, but jazz of a different shape and colour. Music from a free and open mind."

RIK is out on Jazzland Rec. August 15. 2025

🏅Norwegian Grammy winner 2023🏅 ... more

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