Home » Jazz Musicians » Stephan Thelen

Stephan Thelen

Guitarist and composer Stephan Thelen releases his debut album for Moonjune Records worldwide on January 18, 2019. It's an instrumental, post-progressive album co-produced by Markus Reuter (Stick Men), featuring guest appearances of many leading electric guitarists including David Torn, Markus Reuter, Henry Kaiser, Jon Durant, Bill Walker, Barry Cleveland and Matt Tate, as well as drummers/percussionists Benno Kaiser, Manuel Pasquinelli and Andi Pupato.

Stephan Thelen is American born Swiss who composes, produces and performs music at the fringes of rock, jazz, experimental and classical music. His current main project as a leader, guitarist and composer is the minimal groove band Sonar, who have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music that fuses a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo.

Former projects include playing guitar and electronics with Swiss ensembles Radio Osaka, License To Chill, Broken Symmetry and Root Down, producing albums (for example Andy Brugger’s No No Diet Bang and Peter Schärli Sextet), as well as composing music for many theater and film productions. The celebrated Kronos Quartet recently recorded and frequently performed Stephan's string quartet Circular Lines, a piece commissioned by the Kronos Arts Association and Carnegie Hall for a visionary project called "Fifty for the Future". The Mannheimer Schlagwerk, a percussion ensemble from Germany, also recently premiered his composition Parallel Motion.

Fractal Guitar features the atmospherically dense, polyrhythmic tapestry for which is Sonar is well known, but focuses much more on the sonic and ambient possibilities of the electric guitar. In the liner notes, Stephan Thelen writes : “After a few years of playing without effects apart from reverb in Sonar, I felt the urge to compose and record some pieces in which effects were an integral part of the music. I especially wanted to use an effect I worked with before Sonar, which I call “Fractal Guitar” — a rhythmic delay with a very high feedback level that creates cascading delay patterns in odd time signatures such as 3/8, 5/8 or 7/8. The other desire I had was to work with and to have some serious fun with a few of the many great guitarists I've met over the years to create an album that features some of the more forward-looking possibilities of the most mysterious, compelling and eclectic of all instruments, the electric guitar. ”

Tags

Album Review

Stephan Thelen e Fabio Anile: Music for Piano and Strings

Read "Music for Piano and Strings" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Avevamo salutato con entusiasmo World Dialogue, il primo lavoro del chitarrista americano (ma residente in Svizzera) Stephan Thelen dedicato alle sue composizioni per quartetto d'archi che traducono in un linguaggio minimalista contemporaneo reminiscente di Steve Reich i suoi principi compositivi basati sull'utilizzo estensivo di poliritmi e finora applicati in chiave rock dal suo gruppo SONAR e nei progetti solistici sfociati nella serie Fractal Guitar. In quella occasione ci augurammo di poter ascoltare altre opere nello stesso ambito, e dopo poco ...

39
Interview

Stephan Thelen: Of Sonar, Fractals And Interactive Complexity

Read "Stephan Thelen: Of Sonar, Fractals And Interactive Complexity" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


If you have been at all aware of the two-decade-old movement known as Swiss Minimalism, you've likely seen Stephan Thelen's name crop up. Lately, it would be fairly difficult not to. From 2018 to 2023 alone, his work as a leader in groups like Sonar and Fractal Sextet along with his Fractal Guitar series and other collaborations have produced no less than 12 albums--with at least two more pending releases at the time of this interview. Even more noticeable is ...

4
Radio & Podcasts

Rugerro Robin, Atte Aho, Peter Fernandez and Stephan Thelen

Read "Rugerro Robin, Atte Aho, Peter Fernandez and Stephan Thelen" reviewed by Len Davis


Italian guitarist Ruggero Robin with his Jazz Trio, bassist Francisco Fattoruso, Finnish guitarist Atte Aho, progressive rock from The Resonance Project, Markus Reuter from Bleed, Stephan Thelen Fractal Guitar 3 and from the UK Paroksha-Destinations OutPlaylist Rugerro Robin “La Nona" from Lo-Fi Project (Juno) 00:00 Francisco Fattoruso “Life Hacker" from Khronos (Ciclope) 07:12 Atte Aho “Elastic Energy" from Atte Aho (Eclipse) 14:36 Peter Fernandez “Galaxy" from Incline (Self Produced) 22:06 The Resonance Project “I Like it" from Rush ...

16
Album Review

Fractal Sextet: Fractal Sextet

Read "Fractal Sextet" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


In the over two-decade-old “movement" that's come to be known as Swiss Minimalism, guitarist Stephan Thelen has pushed himself to the fore, both with his group SONAR and in solo projects. In recent years, he's been astonishingly prolific (releasing five albums from 2021-2022 alone). With recent group work in Sonar being expanded to include guitarist David Torn, his Fractal Guitar album series (Moonjune, 2019, 2021, 2022) garnering critical acclaim, live albums, Bill Laswell remixes, and his World Dialogue (Rare Noise, ...

2
Liner Notes

Stephan Thelen: Fractal Sextet

Read "Stephan Thelen: Fractal Sextet" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Swiss composer/guitarist Stephan Thelen's two Fractal Guitar albums were largely multi-tracked affairs, involving considerable file sharing. The idea of organizing a band to perform the music live may have been inevitable. The resulting Fractal Sextet is an international project consisting of guitarist Jon Durant (USA), keyboard player and composer Fabio Anile (Italy), bassist Colin Edwin (UK), drummer Yogev Gabay (Israel), percussionist Andi Pupato (Switzerland), and Thelen on guitar and programming.The original plan was to get at least the ...

2
Radio & Podcasts

Progressive Music From Louis Siciliano, Markus Reuter And Stephan Thelen

Read "Progressive Music From Louis Siciliano, Markus Reuter And Stephan Thelen" reviewed by Len Davis


Italian keyboardist Louis Siciliano from Ancient Cosmic Truths, featuring Randy Brecker, German touch guitarist Markus Reuter and Swiss guitarist Stephan Thelen, plus British band Paroksha. We finish with a few old favourites from Weather Report, Al Di Meola, Return To Forever and Billy Cobham. Playlist Louis Siciliano “The Secret Of Mansa" from Ancient Cosmic Truth (Musica Presente) 00:00 Markus Reuter “Free In the Now" from Bleed (Moonjune) 07:09 Stephan Thelen “Morning Star" from Fractal Guitar 3 (Moonjune) 14:12 ...

12
Album Review

Stephan Thelen: Fractal Guitar 3

Read "Fractal Guitar 3" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Guitarist/composer Stephan Thelen presents the third installment of his Fractal Guitar series. Like the previous albums, the emphasis is on multiple guitars, layered in kaleidoscopic arrangements based on his compositions and guitar playing, but significantly colored by the contributions of his collaborators. This edition was also influenced by the other albums that he was working on simultaneously: Transneptunian Planets with J. Peter Schwalm, Eivind Aarset, Tim Harries and Manuel Pasquinelli (RareNoiseRecords, 2022); Fractal Sextet with Jon Durant, Fabio Anile, Colin ...

Read more articles

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Three Movements

7D Media
2023

buy

Music for Piano and...

Self Produced
2023

buy

Transneptunian Planets

RareNoiseRecords
2022

buy

Fractal Guitar 3

MoonJune Records
2022

buy

Fractal Sextet

Alchemy Records
2022

buy

Fractal Guitar 2

MoonJune Records
2021

buy

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.