Bendik Giske

Norwegian-born saxophonist and performer Bendik Giske creates highly physical, sensual music that utilizes circular breathing techniques, and reflects influences such as ambient, avant-jazz, and club music. While his 2019 solo debut Surrender was played entirely by the artist himself with no overdubs or effects, he’s also a prolific collaborator, working with artists such as Nils Bech, Pavel Milyakov, and André Bratten, who produced Giske’s spacious 2021 full-length Cracks.
Bendik Giske was born in Oslo, and split his time between his home city and Bali, where he practiced traditional dances that later informed his solo performances. He played saxophone in a jazz group called Listen!, and additionally worked with other Norwegian acts. Giske co-wrote material for multiple releases by Nils Bech, which were issued by Oslo’s Fysisk Format and Brooklyn’s DFA. A solo piece titled “Music for Dance: The Gun,” written for a dance performance by Magnus Myhr and recorded in a single take, was released in 2017. Giske signed to Smalltown Supersound in 2018 and released Adjust, an EP containing five versions of the title track, including remixes by experimental club producers like Lotic and Total Freedom as well as dark ambient legend Deathprod. The original version of the track reappeared on Surrender, Giske’s 2019 full-length debut, which was recorded at Oslo’s Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum with producer Armund Ulvestad. The two placed numerous tiny microphones over Giske’s instrument and body, and he performed his pieces without overdubs, looping, or effects.
In 2021, Giske and Russian experimental techno producer Pavel Milyakov (aka Buttechno) released a brief album consisting of seven untitled pieces. Giske also appeared on Caterina Barbieri’s Fantas Variations, contributing a saxophone and vocal interpretation of her composition. Later in the year, he released Cracks, an album inspired by Cuban-American writer and theorist José Muñoz’s book Cruising Utopia. The recording was produced by André Bratten, who added more spacious elements to Giske’s playing. A single containing Laurel Halo’s remixes of the album track “Cruising” also appeared. ~ Paul Simpson