Bjørn Christiansen

Prominent Danish electronic musician, composer and educator, born 2 August 1975 in Ringsted, most active under Bjørn Svin alias. Bjørn Christiansen taught himself to play an electric organ in early childhood, fascinated by Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and other synth-pop acts heard on Kim Schumacher's P3 radio broadcasts. In high school, he acquired the first synthesizer and sampler, recording home tapes with naive melodic ambient as Yellow Symphony. Soon discovering rave subculture and techno, Bjørn switched to dancefloor-oriented music. In April 1995, Bjørn Christiansen's debut Disconat 12" came out on Stranger Than Paradise Records, soon followed by two 12-inches on the Dancecop label under Cygnet Committee alias. In 1997, he presented Bjørn Svin's debut album on April Records, one of the leading Scandinavian electronic indie labels. Released the same year, Cygnet Committee's first and only full-length CD album Riomantic also credited all tracks to "Bjørn Svin." He performed at Pelle Krøgholt's "xart hybrid" project room in June 1999 at an abandoned soybean oil factory at Copenhagen's harbor. In June 2001, Bjørn Christiansen participated in Helicopter Records 5 Års Fest, commemorating the 5th anniversary of Helicopter Records, where he first appeared on the '98 Helilifted CD compilation. Between 2003 and 2005, Bjørn collaborated with Copenhagen-based label Tech-Nology and focused on minimal techno, releasing Couples Of Lonely Dancers 12" as El Far in 2003 and a more experimental/abstract Prinz Ezo album in 2005, available on The Body Offset 2x12" or Inside Buddy CD. Since 2007, Bjørn Christiansen has taught electronic music composition at various prestigious Danish universities and academic institutions, including Syddansk Musikkonservatorium, Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium's DIEM, and Engelsholm Højskole. In 2016, he contributed to EMP RMX 333: A Tribute To Else Marie Pade (1924-2016) remix compilation.