Bios & promo — benchmark artistes

Otto Andreas Totland was born in Porsgrunn, Norway 1979. He started composing music using computers, but soon found the tools limiting effects on creativity. The simple complexity of the piano drew him further and further away from the digital – finding more joy in a single sustaining string than the limitless impossibilities of the virtual. Being a self taught pianist; Otto developed a unique and personal compositional style. Drawing inspiration from a deep history of Norwegian folk music, romantic-era composers and early Scandinavian jazz – he weaves a minimalistic, melancholic and meditative soundscape. His music transports you from the cacophony of life, to a cabin deep in the Norwegian wilderness. As you lay your head on the piano everything else fades away – it's just you, Otto and the piano – a fragile, beautiful and intimate space making way for quiet introspection.

Otto A Totland's modern compositional elements are most widely recognized as half of the Norwegian duo Deaf Center, where his melancholic, intricate piano work provides haunting relief to the beds of noise and deep strings from Erik K Skodvin. His first solo full-length, Pinô, was released on Sonic Pieces in January 2014.

With Companion, Otto A Totland completes his trilogy of personal, sparse piano compositions, following in the footsteps of 2014's Pinô and 2017's The Lost. As a self-taught pianist, Otto further determines himself as a timeless composer who follows nothing but his own gut and heart. The outcome is something so pure it's hard to not be affected. The development of his pieces over the years has grown into something so himself that it's almost immediately recognisable. With Companion he has matured in his own craft, and the various pieces here feel confident and absolutely beautiful in a way that sees the end of the trilogy as a warm, empathic document for the times. As with the previous two albums, Companion was again recorded at Nils Frahm's Berlin studio for optimal warmth and space, Pinô and The Lost at his previous Durton Studio while Companion at the historic Studio 3 at Funkhaus. All three records are released by Sonic Pieces in hand-crafted limited edition covers as a statement showing that craftmanship and humanity still exists in this world constantly moving towards the exact opposite.

Otto A Totland's modern compositional elements are most widely recognized as half of the Norwegian duo Deaf Center, where his melancholic, intricate piano work provides haunting relief to the beds of noise and deep strings from Erik K Skodvin. Pinô is the first full-length release by Totland, though his solo work has been released once, as the 5-minute A-side of Sonic Pieces 7inch Harmony From the Past. Otto's previously brief vignettes are now expanded into a fully personal realization of his own style. Initial track Open fills itself with heavy, knowing pauses that quickly become overwhelmed with the desire to understand what's to come. Pinô quickly recalls deep winter; in front of a fireplace for days on end, you lose how far along you've ventured into the 18 tracks without any idea how far is left to go. His album is a haunting modern compositional treasure, expressed through instrumentals completely unique to Totland and captured masterfully by Nils Frahm at Durton Studios. Though a highly personal endeavor, the recognizable continuation of Totland's compositions will attract fans of Deaf Center, and the cinematic and classical components of his solo work will hold sway for those familiar with Harold Budd or Dustin O'Halloran.

The Norwegian composer and self-taught pianist Otto A. Totland, who also performs as one half of cult ambient-classical-drone duo Deaf Center, shares a new sixteen-track album, Exin, via LEITER. 'Exin' follows 2021's 'Companion', the final part of a trilogy of solo piano records that began with 2014's 'Pinô' and continued with 2019's 'The Lost'. I want people to feel connected to my music, but at the same time, don't take me too seriously. I don't like pretentious people. It was co-produced by Nils Frahm at his studio in the German capital's famed Funkhaus complex in September 2023.