专辑简介

Grouse returns to the album format for a third time with a brand new offering, Oslo. Although it contains the atmospheric and dubby downtempo elements for which Grouse is known, Oslo represents new influences and a more concise sound.

Starting in San Francisco as a studio project, Grouse is the work of Dublin native Ronan Carroll as an outlet for his electronic, dub, and ambient-influenced productions. The music of Grouse is atmospheric and cinematic, a place where guitars, violins and brass instruments blend with loops, samples and synthesizers.

Consisting of eleven tracks ranging from the jazzy “Cornucopia”, “JVH”, and “Interlude J” to the more instrumental-hip-hop influenced beats of “Crosstown” and “Silence”, the album is the follow-up to 2012’s Heads, described by Dan Hegarty of Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ as “one of the albums of the year.” Known for mainly using live instrumentation, this time Grouse has reversed recent trends and produced a more sample-heavy album. At least that’s how it started. In many cases, the samples are hard to spot as Carroll adds the usual flurry of live instruments including horns, dubby bass guitar, and electric piano. Oslo has a more jazzy, instrumental hip-hop feel while sticking to the mellow, atmospheric, downtempo associated with the Grouse sound.

As Carroll notes, “I’ve been a fan of jazz and, in some ways, this album is sort of a tribute to the jazz and instrumental hip-hop and I’ve been listening to over the last few years. Ultimately, it’s about creating an atmosphere. That’s what I love most about music, groove and atmosphere, the way two instruments sound against each other.”