Rural Tapes releases new album 'Oneiric' to great acclaim
Rural Tapes has today released his fourth album Oneiric via Clay Pipe Music to great acclaim. Oneiric is available now on vinyl LP, CD, and digital/streaming here.
Oneiric is an expansive and enthralling record from the Rural Tapes moniker of Norwegian producer and multi-instrumentalist Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen. It is a record for the dreamers, a trippy cosmic aural experience of largely instrumental music, recorded analogue and crafted together at his Nygrenda Vev & Dur studio in rural Norway.
Regarding the album Arne says, “The word Oneiric refers to things connected with dreams. I've drawn inspiration from the strange, surreal, humorous, imaginative, and vividly colourful experiences that often unfold within them.
“I have played with genres, sounds and timbres and put together pieces of music that I think could be the soundtrack to a dream sequence. I love the way a dream can be so bizarre and yet still feel so natural, and I can relate to that otherworldliness in the way I compose and put together musical pieces. Some songs have a clear structure, some have not, some are minimalist, some are maximalist, some are wistful and some are joyful, but I think all of them are quite colourful and playful.
“I’ve taken inspiration from many different music eras and many different corners of the world, from quirky British music to French dream pop to the 60s New York tape music scene to ambient and psychedelic music. The music is created hands on using old analogue gear such as tape machines, dictaphones, tape echoes and more to colour the music and give the sounds the right textures. This way I feel connected to the music I make.”
On Oneiric Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen play organs, synthesizers, piano, mellotron, drums, drum machines, percussion, field recordings, trombone, tuba, electric guitars, vocals, vocoder and tape treatment. He is joined in parts by collaborators including Alexis Taylor, Gary Olson, Kristine Tjøgersen, Lars Løberg Tofte, Marin Stallemo Bakke, Sigurd Thomassen, Silje Høgevold, Terry Edwards and Øystein Braut.
In a career which spans two decades, Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen has cemented himself as a vital name from the Norwegian music scene. He has been a part of important Norwegian bands such as I Was A King and Heroes & Zeros, as well as the bi-continental jangle band The No Ones with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey from R.E.M. and Minus 5 along with I Was A King frontman Frode Strømstad.
Launching his Rural Tapes project with the self-titled record in 2021, he solidified his status further for his inventive and progressive music. Rural Tapes is consistently met by a wealth of high praise as seen across the further studio albums including Inner Space Music (2022) and Contact (2024). He now heightens senses further with Oneiric, an album set to prove a vital record in his catalogue.
Celebrating the new album release Rural Tapes will be touring throughout Norway and Germany. The tour seven-date tour will include a special show where Oneiric, and the rest of the Rural Tapes catalogue, has been created at Nygrenda Vev & Dur on November 20th. Full Rural Tapes tour dates are listed below.
RURAL TAPES 2025 TOUR DATES
- Nov 1st – Bergen, Landmark (with Kunnatic)
- Nov 7th – Haugesund, Haugaland Prog & Rock Festival
- Nov 8th – Arendal, Munken (with Silje Høgevold)
- Nov 14th – Kristiansand, Vaktbua
- Nov 15th – Oslo, Kafé Hærverk (with Mungolian Jet Set)
- Nov 20th – Grimstad, Nygrenda Vev & Dur
- Nov 21st – Berlin, Loge Bar
ONEIRIC TRACK LISTING
A1 – NREM
A2 – Flower Lab
A3 – Retire The Fool
A4 – Hypermnesia
A5 – Eidetic Memory
B1 – Bird’s-Eye View
B2 – Woolgathering
B3 – Fantasia
B4 – Reverie
B5 – Dream Within A Dream
B6 – Lingering Souls
B7 – Lucid Dreaming
