Mr Fingers
Cerebral Hemispheres
(Alleviated Records, 2018 2cd)
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Brian Eno
Music For Installations
(Opal Records, 2018 6cd)
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Even if their names rarely appear in the mainstream, Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson and Wardruna’s Einar Selvik are Norse musical royalty, which largely explains why they were commissioned to work together to create music in commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the Norwegian constitution in 2014. The results were released in 2016 as Skuggsjá, a record that provided something of a meeting point between its creators chief projects (albeit with a clear skew towards the Norwegian folk composition of Wardruna rather than the progressive metal of Enslaved).
Now Bjørnson and Selvik are back with Hugsjá, a successor album that neatly avoids feeling like a retread. The risk with projects that emerge out of commissions is that, once the initial…
…impetus provided by the brief disappears, the results can easily become uninspired. Here Bjørnson and Selvik have actually delivered a sophomore suite – initially composed for the Bergen International Festival last year – that is comfortably superior to its predecessor. With the focus this time on providing a sonic journey around Norway’s coastal regions, the duo are in their element. Hugsjá is a startlingly atmospheric journey that uses Norwegian folklore to enhance a collection of stunning songs.
The opening, titular, track is an easy highlight, swooping as it does out of the clouds with gentle guitar, stirring strings and Selvik’s evocative vocals. It’s followed by ‘WulthuR’, which is driven by some wonderful, faintly jazz oriented, percussion. ‘Ni Døtre av Hav’ then sees Bjørnson threaten to break into metal territory for the first time, only to climax in a beautiful, soaring folk arrangement that is as powerful as anything present on the entire album. The opening quartet is rounded off by ‘Ni Mødre av Sol’, which is dominated by the most haunting melody Bjørnson and Selvik have yet crafted together. These opening four tracks might be the record’s best, but more than anything they set the tone for a record that rarely comes close to losing its direction or inspiration.
That said, Hugsjá is lengthy. At 63 minutes, this is a record that perhaps lacks the musical range to match its duration. It’s worth repeating that there isn’t a single track here that stands out as particularly flawed, but as on Skuggsjá Bjørnson and Selvik could be accused of not having realised that one can have too much of a good thing. The progressive rock flourishes that underpin ’Nattseglar’ and ’Oska’ keep things moving along nicely, but the likes of ’Nordvegen’ and ’Utsyn’ defintely suffer a little simply from arriving towards the back end of an hour long record. Even if the length does not detract from Hugsjá’s overall quality then, it does perhaps undermine it just a touch.
The word “Hugsjá” means to see with the mind, and this record certainly fulfils any ambitions the listener might have in this area. It’s hard to listen to the quietly grandiose music on offer here and not find oneself mentally transported on to the titanic Norwegian cliffs. In that sense, Bjørnson and Selvik could scarcely be doing a better job of showcasing – and reworking – the folkloric traditions of their homeland.
320 kbps | 94 MB | LINKS
Malin Pettersen is well known by Americana fans in Norway, through 11 years on the road with Americana band Lucky Lips and countless collaborations. The spring of 2018 she will be releasing her first solo album and it’s safe to say – it’s been a long journey. The writing of the songs for References Pt. 1 started 5 years ago, as she got pregnant with her first child. The work with getting the songs ready and a band together started the following year, and three years ago the recording prosess finally started. References Pt. 1 is difficult to cage up as it erupts as free spirited rock on one track, more folky on another, down to even pure country songs on some. This showcases the studio proscess and the way the producers and musicians worked together to create this vivid and genuine album.
There is no one universe for Ben LaMar Gay, he just sonic booms from one sound to another. His solo debut, Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, is really a patch-work of seven albums, recorded over seven years but never released. It moves from fuzz-caked weirdo-psych to mutant synth-funk to giddy electronics to progressive jazz at a seamless, whiplash-free warp speed.
…The Chicago-born AACM alum and sometimes Brazilian resident is known for his cornet playing in a variety of progressive contexts, and his debut expands his range of musical motion to fascinating and often thrilling effect.
“Vitus Labrusca,” the opening track on Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, is a 30 second plunge into abstraction, mingling…
…avant-garde classical, free jazz, and an echoing atmosphere redolent of studio experimentation. It’s a striking passage, but one that’s shortness allows it to become a sort of prelude to the musical range that follows.
It’s brevity also effectively softens an immediate sharp redirection, as “Muhal” blends electro funk and arty pop with rap and jazz elements (featuring wordless vocals that recall scatting through the prism of beatboxing), all in praise of the great Chicago-based pianist-composer-educator Muhal Richard Abrams (who sadly passed away last year). It’s a tribute that goes deeper than titular acknowledgement; the verses Gay sings in the track are names taken from Abrams’ impressive book of compositions (the chorus is this record’s title delivered by a female backing vocal crew).
But the tribute runs much deeper. Since its ’60s inception, Abrams was the administrator of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and International Anthem describes Gay as both a “default descendent” and “long-time participant” of the organization. Those familiar with the AACM will likely appreciate the lack of orthodoxy (even to the general parameters of avant jazz) in Gay’s salute, though the sweet bass clarinet throughout “Muhal” (played by Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas) does provide a solid jazzy foundation.
The cyclical repetition that shapes “Music for 18 Hairdressers: Braids and Fractals” strengthens the title nod to Steve Reich, but the use of horns brought fellow Minimalist Dickie Landry to mind. The foundation of tough-plucked upright bass maintains the connection to jazz. As the third straight track taken from Grapes, the compilation’s sequencing reinforces Gay’s eclecticism even from inside his unreleased album projects.
And yet there are distinct differences, as “Jubilee” and later in Downtown Castles’ scheme “Galveston” (both selections taken from Freddie Douggie (Live on Juneteenth)) find jazziness (in the former) and free improv and repetition (in the latter) fruitfully merging with abstract electronics. But eclecticism is undeniably a (if not the) major theme here, and that the LP’s disparate stylistic ingredients unwind so pleasurably and coherently makes this collection a nonstop joy.
“A Seasoning Called Primavera,” the first of two consecutive cuts from The Lost Juba Singles, swings wholeheartedly into a u-ground hip-hop zone, though when the violin enters I was reminded of the lack of codified rules that makes K-Rob and Rammellzee’s “Beat Bop” such an enduring blast. And then “Miss Nealie Burns” rounds up banjo, touches of klezmer, Tom Zé, Raymond Scott in “Powerhouse” mode, and hints of hot jazz/ free jazz collectivity/ connectivity; astoundingly, it all goes down swimmingly, and is maybe the record’s standout.
“Me, Jayve and the Big Bee” scales back to just horns to offer a short dose of jazz’s forlorn beauty, while “Uvas” stretches out a bit in its mix of classic Brazilian pop, contempo electronic ambience, and bold string arrangements. “Swim Swim,” and “Kunni,” both from Benjamim e Edinho, extend from “Uvas” and situate Gay as an able practitioner of Brazilian-tinged art-pop, though the soundtrack piece “Melthor Que Tem” (from the documentary short “This Is Bate Bola”) drives home an aversion to remaining in one stylistic place.
“Melthor Que Tem” nicely complements “Gator Teeth,” an extract from the live recording East of the Ryan, and it’s here that Downtown Castles momentarily settles down a bit. “7th Stanza” from 500 Chains is another brief piece, this one combining spoken vocals with (what I think is) accompaniment by the African ngoni (played by Will Faber), and then the lengthier “Oh no… not again!” (a second helping from 500 Chains) begins with Gay’s warm cornet and wordless vocal gliding over a tuba-infused bedrock as the song’s structure navigates a mathy-post-rock locale.
Additionally, there is a momentary free jazz detour and an album-culminating rhythmic tour de force, “Oh no… not again!” illuminating Ben LaMar Gay copious talent and sealing Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun as a bountiful vessel of optimism for music’s immediate future. Even if you know Gay’s contribution to Makaya McCraven’s Highly Rare and Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die, this album will still be an eye-opener.
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192 kbps | 70 MB | LINKS
Tracklist
1. Disappearing Act 4:57
2. Blackbirds 4:32
3. The Matador 4:18
4. The Way You Move Me 4:12
5. When All You Got Is A Hammer 3:48
6. This Used To Be My Town 4:31
7. Independence Day 4:42
8. Five Minutes 5:00
9. On A Bus To St. Cloud 4:48
10. The Answer 3:24
11. The Cruel Mother 6:21
1. from Dancing With The Beast, 2018
2. from Blackbirds, 2015
3. from Hello Cruel World, 2012
4. from Gretchen Peters – Burnt Toast & Offerings, 2007
5. from Blackbirds, 2015
6. from Halcyon, 2004
7. bonus track from Blackbirds, 2015
8. from Hello Cruel World, 2012
9. from The Essential, 2016
10. previously unreleased track, from The Essential, 2016
11. previously unreleased track, from The Essential, 2016
