Gravel Peak release debut album ‘What’s The Plot?’ after three years of crashed hard drives and lineup changes
Oslo sextet Gravel Peak released their debut album “What’s The Plot?” on 2 October 2026 through Winthersounds. Gravel Peak bring a rock sound that mixes jazz, britpop, prog and disco across eight tracks and 37 minutes, produced and mixed by Noah Winther Krogsholm and mastered by Steve Kitch. The eight songs are “What A Shame,” “Sunny,” “Homebound,” “Sound of You,” “Dead Ends,” “Judas,” “Father, Father” and “April.” A limited vinyl edition follows later in the year.
Gravel Peak recorded ‘What’s The Plot?’ where it all started
After a busy concert year in 2025, Gravel Peak disappeared from the stage. Hibernation? Quite the opposite, according to the band: they spent the time polishing the material and finishing the album. Recording began in autumn 2023, and the three-year road to release at times followed Murphy’s law: hard drives died, members came and went, and large parts of the album were recorded and mixed more than once.
The sextet recorded “What’s The Plot?” at the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo, where the band started. Krogsholm, who produced and engineered the sessions, founded Winthersounds in 2025 as an Oslo label and creative collective.
“Gravel Peak’s music is a completely insane mix of textures and creative ideas that shouldn’t make sense, but still manage to grab you and pull you into the universe they’ve created,” Krogsholm said.
The guitars nod to Queen, Frank Zappa, Motorpsycho and Steven Wilson, all named as influences, though the band coin their own adjective for the overall sound: “peaksk” (roughly “Peak-ish”). The songs use asymmetric time signatures and flexible intonation, and the band describe the lyrics as taking “a sharp and reflective look at society’s goods and life’s ills“. Gravel Peak describe themselves and the album as a reaction to artificial intelligence, aimed at keeping the human side of music in focus.
Guests from Gangar, Kyberia and Nils Petter Molvær’s band
For the guest list, Gravel Peak called on their network in the Norwegian music community. Saxophonist Oskar Lindberget of the folk band Gangar plays on “What A Shame”, “Dead Ends” and “Father, Father”. Violinist Victoria Johnson, one half of the duo Kyberia, plays on “Sunny” and “Judas”, alongside cellist Live Tønnesen Norberg. Erland Dahlen, who has played drums with Nils Petter Molvær, adds what the band call “a creative mix of percussion instruments, to put it mildly” to “Dead Ends”.
At 6:22, “Dead Ends” is the longest track and has the largest cast: a woodwind section arranged by guitarist Trond Hallvard Engeset Kverno, with Kristian Østensen Bøkseth (bassoon), Oline Grimstad (flute), Thea Hvesser (clarinet) and Daniel Nystad (oboe), plus Sander Slettebø Grøsfjell on piano. “Father, Father” adds a horn section arranged by drummer David Kristoffer Torp Hvesser, with Eckhard Baur (trumpet), Even Skatrud (trombone) and Lindberget. Stine Heitmann Kværnaa Johansen sings on “Homebound” and “April”.
“Since this is our debut album, we didn’t want to keep any powder dry,” said Hvesser, who also worked on the album as an additional engineer.
Singer Jørgen Berg Hansen wrote the lyrics for seven of the eight songs; Hvesser wrote the words for “April”. The music is credited to the band members, with Grøsfjell co-writing five tracks and arranging the strings on “Sunny” and “Judas”. Berg Hansen also designed the artwork, built around an archive photograph of actor Per Aabel from the National Library of Norway.
Quick interview
Side-Line spoke with lead vocalist Jørgen Berg Hansen a week after the release, once he had time to digest the feedback.
S-L: A few things delayed the album along the way. What was the worst of it?
Jørgen Berg Hansen: I think what delayed our album the most was the broken hard disk. We lost several of the already recorded tracks, including some overdubs which we were unable to recreate. In retrospect, some songs turned out even better after we re-recorded them, so it’s not like we’re still grieving the loss. But at the same time, we understood the importance of back-ups. Hopefully our next record will be more straightforward.
S-L: How has the response to the album been so far?
JBH: It’s funny, because people tend to like very different things on the album. Usually, you got one or two tracks which stands out, but with Gravel Peak, that isn’t the case. For me, personally, it’s the strongest compliment you could ever get, as the album is seen not only as a collection of songs, but as a consisting whole. When we headed into the studio, that was one of our main goals, so I’m very pleased we achieved it.
S-L: What are the band’s plans for the future?
JBH: First of all, we’re about to play a couple of shows, in Oslo 10th of October and Tønsberg 24th of October. These are both intimate gigs, thrown at smaller venues, which I think fits our music and crowd perfectly. Later this year, we’ll release a vinyl edition of “What’s The Plot?” – very limited of course, so be sure to grab that one. We’ve already started working on the next record, but these things take time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to cut it next summer, as well as playing more concerts.
Gravel Peak release concerts in Oslo and Tønsberg
Gravel Peak played the Oslo leg of the release run on 10 October and return to the stage in Tønsberg on 24 October. Live, the band promise driving riffs, mass sing-alongs and a frontman who extends the stage onto whatever fences, bar stools and tables happen to be nearby, and who is not afraid to stare the audience deep in the eyes.
- Saturday 10 October 2026 – Oslo, Belleville, Norway (release concert, 19:00)
- Saturday 24 October 2026 – Tønsberg, Apollon Platebar, Norway (with Everbloom Valley, 19:00)
Tickets for the Tønsberg show are on sale through Apollon Tønsberg.
About Gravel Peak
Gravel Peak are an Oslo rock sextet that started at the University of Oslo’s Department of Musicology. The lineup on “What’s The Plot?” is Jørgen Berg Hansen (vocals), Trond Hallvard Engeset Kverno and Aksel Bostad Randen (electric guitars), Maria Engeset Kverno (keyboards), Matias Rusten (bass) and David Kristoffer Torp Hvesser (drums). The band call themselves “the band nobody knew they were missing“. Their music is rooted in classic rock, with bossa nova, britpop and free jazz among the reference points.
The members have backgrounds in other projects, including Everbloom Valley, Beard Valley and Sequence of Genome; guitarist Aksel Bostad Randen is one half of the duo Sequence of Genome. Everbloom Valley, whose album “Decay of the Yesterdays” also came out on Winthersounds, share the Tønsberg bill. Berg Hansen, who grew up on Nøtterøy outside Tønsberg, has released solo music as Jørgen Berrig since 2017, including the album “En ny dag” in 2023.
Gravel Peak began recording their debut album in autumn 2023. They self-released the single “April” on 6 June 2025. In June 2026 the band played Parkteatret in Oslo. Their press release sums up the act in its own words: “Pompous? Absolutely! Pretentious? Without a doubt. Still, the seriousness lurks beneath the glitter and the trappings.” Winthersounds issued “What A Shame” on 28 August 2026 and “Homebound” on 25 September 2026.
“What’s The Plot?” is the band’s first full-length release, and its October concerts take Gravel Peak from Belleville in Oslo to Apollon Platebar in Berg Hansen’s home region.
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