ACT9548-2 PFE

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//-->In The CountrySunset Sunrise9548ACT 9548-2Date: .02 2013German Release Date: 22.02.2013theIn view of the large number of outstanding Norwegianmusicians, it can be easy to forget just how few people live inNorway, and how small and close-knit the music scene thereis. Perhaps that is why Norwegian jazz musicians are sooutgoing – a project with classical colleagues here, a pop gigthere, when it comes down to it they're all friends. One goodexample of this is pianist Morten Qvenild. This 33 year-old fromKongsberg, who began in a big band before studying jazz atthe Norwegian music academy in Oslo, has played with aremarkable variety of bands since then. The spectrum rangesfrom the acoustic metal-jazz quartet "Shining" and the jazz-rockbands "Jaga Jazzist" and "The National Bank" with the brothersLars and Martin Horntveth, to the pop group "Ostenfor Sol",the formations of the singer Solveig Slettahjell ("Slow MotionQuintet") and Susanna Wallumrod ("Susanna and the MagicalOrchestra"). Indeed, in the latter, he alone was the "MagicalOrchestra", with various keyboard and electronic instruments.thesetrioAll these influences flowed into his own trio In The Countryfounded in 2003, with Roger Arntzen on the bass and PalHausken on the drums – two fellow former students from theOslo music academy. The trio played reams of concerts in over20 countries over the last 13 years and has been awarded the”Best Norwegian Young Jazz Artists” in the mid 00´s. After fourinternationally renowned Norwegian albums, his ACT debut"Sunset Sunrise" now proves that he has achieved a masterfulreconciliation between tradition and experiment, betweenindividuality and communal listening experience, between jazzand pop, in a way that has never been heard before.Here too, In The Country is back on the trail of theScandinavian blues. Alone, the ambiguous band name – doesit mean the music genre or the place? – points to a specialgrounding of the three musicians. Not that Qvenild isparticularly interested in the discussion about the "Nordictone", but he does see the influence: "Norway's history isdefined by having to make your everyday decisions yourself,simply because people live so far apart. If the wolf is at yourdoor, it's you who has to decide whether to shoot it or not. It'snot like other places where the landlord takes care of it. I thinkthat is more definitive than most people imagine: We havealways been a self-taught society, and that is also an importantfactor in the development of Norwegian jazz. We just did ourown thing – some of it was Nordic, some wasn't. It's just aboutmaking good music out of what you are. And that's what we tryto do with In The Country.”And they succeed remarkably well: The first track "Birch Song"is first permeated by the typically sweet, chromatic minor keyof Nordic music, from Edvard Grieg to Jan Garbarek throughto Esbjörn Svensson – until the initially delicate, almostclassical melody drifts off into quiet, menacing depths infusedwith squeaking sounds and dark chord storms. "Birch" doesn'tonly stand for the tree, but also for the birch rod used forpublic castigation, and hence for pain, Qvenild cheerfullynotes. Also "Derrick", inspired only vaguely by the televisionseries of the same name, contrasts its initially almostmechanistically introduced theme with an unreal clickingsound, until it overturns into a bouncing groove fired on byresounding chords.Even when Qvenild distorts and extends the sound of thegrand piano – at concerts he likes to install a board of pickupswith which he can control sound files on the laptop from thepiano – when he occasionally branches off on an improvisationof wild scales like on the title track, when he adds whirringcomplements from the digital world, when the mostly calmtempo involuntarily accelerates, it's not because he wants totest the extremes. It all remains natural, grounded by a calmpulse and melodious despite all complexity. Qvenild is a masterof reduction, who can carve out the kernel of a melody inelongated, dynamic, rhythmic and improvisatorial climaxes likefew others – and then transform that kernel into somethingcompletely new again.So "Sunset Sunrise" is a double masterpiece of soundaesthetics, the expression of the individual style desire ofQvenild, Arntzen and Hausken, but also a great example of theelegiac, here fading away, there flowing into a hymnal "Nordic"sound the way it has rightfully set out to conquer the world, justas we would hope that In The Country does.In The CountrySunset SunriseACT 9548-29548-548Photo by Jørn Stenersen at Anamorphic LofiSong01 Birch Song 8:08Derrick02 Derrick 7:52Park03 Stanley Park 10:4304 Silverspring 6:28SilverspringSteelpants05 Steelpants 6:02Tail06 The Fluke, A Whales Tail 7:12Sunrise07 Sunset Sunrise 10:55Song08 December Song 7:56Morten Qvenild / hyper grand piano, electronicsRoger Arntzen / double bass, electronicsHauskenPål Hausken / drums, percussion, vibraphone, electronicsMusic written by Morten QvenildArranged and produced by In The CountryRecorded by Ryan Freeland at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, May 26 & 27, 2012Assistant engineers David Schwerkolt and Ingar Hunskaar.Mixed and mastered by Ryan FreelandCover art by Carsten Höller, SOMA (Detail), 2010,Exhibition Central Station Hamburg, BerlinAlso available on vinyl: 180gr high fidelity pressing (with Cd inside): ACT 9548-1Auenstraße 47, 80469 München, GermanyPhone +49 89 72 94 92 0, Fax +49 89 72 94 92 11e-mail: info@actmusic.comVisit our website at http://www.actmusic.comDistributor:Allegro-Nail Distribution (US)A&N Music (GR)Andante Music (RO)Apostrophe (RU)C&L Records (KR)Divyd (SK)Dukyan Meloman (BG)Challenge Records Int. (Benelux)DC Comp (UA)edelkultur (DE & AT)Egea (I)Equinox Music (TR)GIGI Distribution (PL)Gramofon (BA)Harmonia Mundi (FR)Harmonia Mundi (UK)Intek (SI+HR)Jassics (ZA)Jazzworld (HK)JSC "Bomba" (LT)Karonte (ES & PT)Musikklosen (NO)Musikvertrieb (CH)Naxos (SE/FI)Outside Distribution (CA)One-Hifi (RS)Planet MGM Distribution (AU)Southbound Records (NZ)Sundance (DK)Videoarts Music Inc. (JP)2HP (CZ) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]