Svein Rikard Mathisen is a Norwegian guitarist and composer, who grew up in Brumunddal in the county of Hedmark north of Oslo. He is the founder of the group Somebody's Quartet, which features on Mathisens debut as a leader, COPENHAGEN DIARIES (2015). The album is critically acclaimed in various countries around the world, and the music was written during his five year stay in the danish capital (2010-2015). Mathisen has stated himself that it was "created in moments where couriosity meets nightmares and self-imposed pressure meets coffein." Curling Legs A/S stated upon its release that "Copenhagen Diaries stands as an excellent example of originality and exquisite interplay from a new generation of nordic jazz musicians."

In 2015 Mathisen eventually moved back to Norway, but he had a strategy in mind for the sequel, and on October 6th 2017, MONSTERS was released, continuing the project's gradually expansion across Europe. 

The album is a conceptual piece, drawing most of its atmospheric influences from the brilliant novel The Snowman, written by Jo Nesbø in 2008 (not to be mistaken for the movie, with the same name). 

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Svein Rikard also co-leads the group Mathisen/Breistein with saxophonist Inge W. Breistein.

The duo focuses on composing pieces of music together with the timbre of the saxophone and guitar in mind. Mathisen/Breistein presented their commission work, MUTANT at the Nattjazz festival in Bergen in 2017. They will release their first album together in 2018, GADGETS, on AMP Music & Records. 

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Having played the guitar since the age of eight, he pursued a musical career, studying with Django Bates, Petter Wettre, Thomas Fryland, Nikolaj Hess and Lage Lund to name a few. 

He has a bachelors degree from the University of Agder (NO) and a masters degree from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen (DK). His approach to improvised music and composition, can be traced back to his meetings with Fryland, Hess and Bates in Copenhagen and Lund, Rogers and Krantz in New York, alongside the brilliant books by Paul Hindemith and Olivier Messiaen.Svein Rikard draws inspirations from life, art, food, drinks and human beings, and tries to fit this into his own world of music. 

Influences:

Musical childhood years: Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Pain of Salvation, Dream Theater, Carl Orffs Carmina Burana, Edvard Grieg, Steve Vai, Los Lobotomys and Frank Zappa. 

Musical teenage years: Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Wes Montgomery, Jeff Beck, Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, SRV, Toto, Steely Dan and Tribal Tech. 

Musical adulthood as of now: friends and colleagues, Wayne Krantz, Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, Bon Iver, Joni Mitchell, Tigran Hamasyan, Adam Rogers, Craig Taborn, Lage Lund, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Marc Ducret, Mike Moreno, John Ruocco, Bill Frisell, John Coltrane and of course the late, great Allan Holdsworth (R.I.P.). 

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