Hubro
Hot on the heels of last year’s Salika, Molika, Erlend Apneseth has gathered around him another supergroup of Nordic heavyweights. Fellow Hubro artistes Stein Urheim, Anja Lauvdal, Hans Hulbækmo and Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, along with accordionist Ida Løvli Hidle. They join together on Fragmentarium to flesh out some of Erlend’s compositions that were initially written for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival and this being the case — and with Kongsberg’s long folk tradition — it saw him also delving into the archives for some more field recordings.
The sparkling of distant lights starts the album off, gradually moving into a kind of gypsy hoedown with Erlend’s Hardanger fiddle whirling and wheeling in the shimmering light of a campfire, its dissolute scrape filling the air with dark tales and wilful exuberance. The sound of the group is full, and the ebb and flow of
the accordion in the background evokes the rising and falling of a slumbering beast. There are all manner of unusual instruments at play here: a fretless bouzouki and jaw’s harp sit alongside the electronics and the rhythm section; it all just sounds like so much fun and has an irresistible groove. Considering some of these players were new to Erlend, the fluidity which comes across here is quite a joy.
Hans’s drums and Fredrik’s double bass move at a funereal pace on “Du Fallande Ford” as the memories of the campfire are washed away with the weak light from the dawning of a winter sun. The slow dawn uncovers ice and the long, frosty breaths of the surviving party-goers. The keenness of the forest air resonates in the melancholy strings as the double bass recounts the rise and fall of the landscape. There are mystery voices from the archives at work on “Fragmentarium”, but I can’t help but notice the link between the traditions of Nordic folk and those of Scottish folk music: there is smoke in the air and rugged, inhospitable landscapes lurking in the distance, mist rising over ancient battle sites and
the sense of vastness, no people for miles round, nothing but the brooding land.
Towards the end, the turbulent cymbal action and the slow drone of the strings react with one another, creating a strange sense of movement, circling like fireflies as the strange and unexpected guitar solo flits into view, sweeping down from a cloudless sky, trading places with the violin and sounding so unlike anything produced in the English form. At times, there is a gravitas and sombre depth that the Hardanger fiddle reacts against, unsettling with its sharpness. Although Norway has a huge coastline, Kongsberg is inland, and the sound produced by this sextet is definitely of the forest, bound with long dark nights and winter’s breath. It is that atmosphere that draws the listener in, closer to the campfire, closer to revel in the fullness of the sounds on offer here.
-Mr Olivetti-
Hot on the heels of last year’s Salika, Molika, Erlend Apneseth has gathered around him another supergroup of Nordic heavyweights. Fellow Hubro artistes Stein Urheim, Anja Lauvdal, Hans Hulbækmo and Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, along with accordionist Ida Løvli Hidle. They join together on Fragmentarium to flesh out some of Erlend’s compositions that were initially written for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival and this being the case — and with Kongsberg’s long folk tradition — it saw him also delving into the archives for some more field recordings.
