RURAL TAPES RELEASES FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM
Rural Tapes - the project of Norwegian producer and multi-instrumentalist Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen - has released his highly anticipated fourth album, Oneiric, via Clay Pipe Music. The record is available now on vinyl LP, CD, and across all digital/streaming platforms.
Expansive and hypnotic, Oneiric is a genre-blurring, mostly instrumental journey recorded entirely in analogue at Nygrenda Vev & Dur, Mathisen’s home studio tucked away in rural Norway. A rich blend of cosmic textures, vintage instrumentation, and cinematic layering, the album is a tribute to the surreal, playful, and vividly strange worlds we often enter in dreams.
“The word Oneiric relates to dreams,” Mathisen explains. “I’ve drawn inspiration from the strange, surreal, humorous, and imaginative moments that play out in them. Each track is like a soundtrack to a dream sequence - some are structured, some are freeform, some joyful, others wistful - but all are colourful and playful.”
Pulling influence from quirky British psychedelia, French dream pop, 1960s New York tape music, and global ambient traditions, Oneiric sees Mathisen drawing on decades of sonic history. Created using classic analogue gear - from tape machines and dictaphones to echo units - the album possesses a tactile, handcrafted quality.
Mathisen plays a vast array of instruments on the record: organs, synths, mellotron, piano, drums, percussion, trombone, tuba, electric guitars, vocoder, field recordings, and more. He’s joined by a talented roster of collaborators including Alexis Taylor, Gary Olson, Kristine Tjøgersen, Terry Edwards, and others, who each leave their mark across the album’s textured soundscape.
With a career spanning over 20 years, Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen remains a vital force in Norwegian music, having contributed to acclaimed bands like I Was A King, Heroes & Zeros, and the international collective The No Ones(alongside Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of R.E.M. and Minus 5). Since launching Rural Tapes in 2021 with his self-titled debut, he has continued to push boundaries with Inner Space Music (2022) and Contact (2024) - a trajectory now elevated by the introspective and transportive Oneiric.
To mark the album’s release, Rural Tapes will embark on a seven-date tour across Norway and Germany, culminating in a special performance on November 20 at Nygrenda Vev & Dur - the very studio where the album (and the full Rural Tapes catalogue) was created.
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
