The organ has a strong connection in popular imagination with the ghostly and undead because of its place within religion and solemn ritual. In Renewal Manifestation for organ, alto saxophone and string trio, Calum Builder embarks on a kind of instrumental necromancy to bring back the organ from the dead – like 'a monster being taught how to breathe and sigh', as he puts it.

Renewal Manifestation will be released on a limited edition LP and on streaming services 19 April. Listen to a single from the album while you read.

Ghostly gasps and heavy panting

In Renewal Manifestation Builder finds ways to defamiliarize the organ's sound, e.g. by pulling stops only halfway out to create eerie and ghostly gasps. The strings from CRUSH String Collective and Builder's own saxophone add tectures of scratches, whistles and crackles.

The organ initially appears in the work with a horror-like character, but throughout the work, the organ and ensemble gradually approaches one another to create luminous harmonies.

For the recordings, 14 microphones were placed inside the organ, as well as in the church space, to fully capture the mechanics of the mighty instrument.

A meeting between prominent musicians

Calum Builder (b. 1991) is an Australian-born saxophonist and composer based in Copenhagen. Stemming from a fascination with rituals and 'post-religious spirituality', his works often intertwine minimalist structures with masses of sound.

This recording is a meeting between prominent Danish musicians from different generations and traditions: composer and organist Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen, who has made his mark on Danish music in the last 40 years, and the CRUSH String Collective, a creative string ensemble who explore all aspects of string sounds through improvisation and collective composition.