This release is the first in the Jazkamer 2010 Monthly Series. A card accompanying the CD states: “One new Jazkamer album on Pica Disk every month of 2010. One year of music and anti-music.”
Perfomed by the two founders and regular members Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre, plus Jean-Philippe Gross, who also edited and mixed this CD very interestingly, Solitary Nail is one 30 minute track, although it feels like many tracks. It is a cut and paste of multifrequent parts combined with more one-dimensional sounds. Recordings range from guitar feedback explorations and movement of gadgets wired up with contact-microphone and very low (also volume) bass frequencies to massive full on distortion and harsh noise. At around 13:30 though, the track turns around to explore a more simple tone or feedback of very high pitch. This high pitch varies a lot, but still up there and goes on for the next ten minutes. For me this was the Solitary Nail as it went hard right inside my skull and stayed there for the full ten minutes – this part of the track lasted. Be careful using earphones! After this the track moves back to exploring a more easy listening, harsh wider-ranging frequencies and definitely multi-layered sound.
When the monthly series was announced in November last year, Jazkamer promised to “…keep it exciting all the way, so in keeping with Jazkamer’s eclectic tradition of making very different sounding records, each monthly album will cover the wide (non)musical range Jazkamer has become known for…” With this release they have set the pace, so to speak, as it proves to be, within only 30 minutes, very diverse. It is both multi-layered and one-dimensional, not to mention challenging at times. So, for me Soiltary Nail was both nice and very disturbing at times. An experience. And I had to listen again. To experience it. Again.
-Ronny Wærnes-
