About

Christian Skår Winther is a Norwegian guitarist and singer-songwriter. Winther is best known from being primus motor in the alternative pop duo Listen to Girl, playing guitar in the improv- and instrumental rock group Monkey Plot, and as guitarist and singer in the noise punk band Ich Bin N!ntendo, and as guitarist and co-producer in the band Torg. Other notable mentions are collaborations with musicians and bands such as Skrap, Broen, Invader Ace, Pär Thörn, Frode Gjerstad, Mats Gustafsson and Lisa Dillan. Winther have toured Europe, Japan and South America and released over a dusin albums with his different projects. He also runs the record label Earthly Habit.

Education:
Christian Winther is educated with a Performance Master’s degree in Improvised Music from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo (2009-2015).

Other:
– Winther is a boardmember of Martin Aunes Stiftelse, a foundation building a recidency for musicians, composers and sound artists in Røros, Norway.
– Winther was awarded Young Jazz Musician Of The Year with his band Monkey Plot in 2014 at Molde International Jazz Festival.

As arranger:
– Created the concert production concept Jungelen together with Peder Simonsen (and members from Broen, Ich Bin N!ntendo and Invader Ace), 2014-2016.
– Worked with Eirik Havnes on the experiemental music festival Bråkesund in Ålesund, from 2010-2015.
– Started the concert series Lillesalen Konsertserie in Oslo together with Jakop Janssønn in 2010.

Christian lives in Oslo with his girlfriend Anja.

SELECTED PRESS QUOTES

 

LISTEN TO GIRL:

“It’s our great pleasure to present you with this fine piece of alternative pop from Listen to Girl. This is ‘Big Things’ and it’s glorious.” – Soundsphere magazine (UK)

«Listen to Girl gives us a unique and fresh look at what pop music can be.» –  Deichmans Musikkblogg

“The magic is in their voices: The duo often sings together, and their voices kind of sounds the same, everything could be his or hers, and they’re gliding into each other in completely unique ways”
– Marius Lien, Morgenbladet

“Sounding out of step and out of time from many of the Nordic guitar and pop scenes, it’s this uniqueness which makes Girl such a refreshing act”.
– Line of Best Fit (UK)

“Catchy and unique, it is an art to write such songs. … an experience of both something familiar and yet undiscovered.”
– Susanna 

«.. duelling melodies are a dreamy, delicate way to open your eyes this morning. Echoing both 70s lounge and the textures of folktronica. Inviting you into its world of hushed and intimate tones amidst Casio beats and acoustic arpeggios.»  – God Is In The TV (UK)

“One acoustic guitar and two voices. It has been done before. Still there is something unique with the Norwegian duo. … Reminding a bit of the acoustic bossa nova-influenced projects all post-rockers from Chicago was doing for a while.”
– Audun Vinger, Dagens Næringsliv

 

MONKEY PLOT:

“De tre musikerne i bandet er hver for seg strålende. Personlig mener jeg gitarist Christian Skår Winther er et av de største talentene i landet for tiden.”
– Arild R. Andersen, Aftenposten

“Monkey Plot har utgitt en av årets skjulte perler og jeg elsker hvert sekund!”
– Panorama.no, Mats Johanson

Aventureux sans être abscon, dissonnant sans être inaudible, sophistiqué sans être démonstratif, minimaliste sans être creux, l’album arrive à éviter tous les pièges d’un rock instrumental que l’on penserait “arty” et un véritable capital sympathie se dégage de l’ensemble.
Ainsi pour l’utilisation déviante de ses guitares on pense souvent à Sonic Youth, lorsque le groupe était en partie pris sous la houlette des compositions savantes de Jim O’Rourke (“The Couriers”, “Shyly Upon Everything”). On pense aussi à Fugazi pour l’énergie contenue de certains morceaux, ou sur d’autres à Tortoise pour une forme de groove décalé (“Here I Sit, Knowing All of This”) mais ces influences quelque peu écrasantes sont balayées fissa par une fraîcheur laissant deviner un groupe constitué de membres bien plus authentiques qu’il n’y paraît, loin des bons faiseurs. L’album sait par ailleurs inviter la poésie à sa table comme en témoigne le beau spoken words “Kalla Handen” sur lequel le poète suédois Pär Thörn vient lire ses propres vers.
Avec ses ritournelles lo-fi légèrement biscornues, Here I Sit, Knowing All of This est un album empruntant également au jazz une certaine technicité mais celle-ci reste toujours au service des compositions, notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de tricoter des toiles harmoniques à deux guitares, ces dernières étant magnifiquement entrelacées. Pour toutes ces raisons, Monkey Plot signe là une pure merveille se hissant parmi les meilleurs albums de rock instrumental de l’année.
– dMute (FR)

The third album from Monkey Plot guitarist Christian Skår Winther, bassist Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard, and drummer Jan Martin Gismervik signifies a return to electric form following a largely acoustic period. Here I Sit, Knowing All of This is no abrasive, high-decibel throwdown, however, but rather an intimate set that sounds a bit like sketches Television might have developed in the studio before adding Tom Verlaine’s vocals. There are moments on this explorative album when Winther’s multi-tracked acoustic and electric playing makes the Norwegian trio sound more like a quartet than trio, too.
With six years of playing under their collective belts, the band is a tight unit that locks into a groove with ease, even if it’s sometimes an intricate one. Eschewing power trio conventions, the members downplay soloing, preferring instead to function as a multi-limbed entity whose participants are equally integral to the collective sound (yes, the guitar does generally assume the lead melodic role, but it’s more by default than anything else). If one had to start somewhere, “Dry Ground” would be as good a place as any, given how effectively the bass-and-drum pulse underpins the range of tremolo and scabrous snarl Winther coaxes from his guitar, though “Kalla Handen,” with Swedish poet Pär Thörn intoning one of his own texts alongside the band, can’t help but be ear-catching for including a voice element.
– Textura (CA)

 

TORG:

“Den nye vinen i norsk jazz, pop, elektronika og impro!”
– NRK P2, Svein Terje Torvik

“Gathers a bunch of the country’s most interesting musicians .. Groovy post-rock performed by open minded musicians with a certain jazz connection, mixing Brazilian charm and Lower East Side skronk?”
– Dagens Næringsliv, Audun Vinger

 

ICH BIN N!NTENDO:

«What we find here is something else, and gigantic.» – Shhpuma, Portugal

«With a name like ICH BIN N!NTENDO you’d be forgiven for diving in expecting an undulating ocean of chiptune to swim around in. However, there is nary a bleep to be found in ‘Growth’, the latest offering from ICH BIN N!NTENDO – this is raw, brutal, atonal post-punk noise: more Mordor than Mario, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! ‘Growth’ is one you’ll need to turn up loud.»
– JaJaJa

«It ain’t soundtrack music to your first kiss, or music you jog to, or music for sweet dreams. It’s a tad bit headache music, and bit o’ revolutionary music»
– Bad Sounds Magazine, Essi Tam

“Their sound is a strong, spirited post-punk powerhouse of rage: somewhere between The Ex and the Fall. The vocalist sings in English, occasionally straining his voice, screaming and twisted his words into just bent sounds. Their six songs are actually catchy and compelling in their own twisted way. It feels good to get into their intense, rocking groove. Even when they slow down on “Looks”, they still sound great, their guitarist shredding at a medium pace, the howling like he is about to lose it. Since it is so rare that I get a chance to hear bands like this, it is a breath of somewhat fresh air, pounding on body. So turn it up and let it rip hard!”
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery