PESTROTTEDANS

The Norwegian Avant Jazzers are back after a 4 year gap from their excellent Astromalist. This time they've moved to Altrock from Rune Grammofon but are again mastered by the excellent Udi Koomran. Another Altrock regular Elaine DeFalco guests on accordion on one track. Maybe because of their jazz avant leanings they make a point of mentioning that no-one plays brass. As usual this is a very tight instrumental album. They have moved away from some of the edginess that featured in Koralrevens Klagesang and brought them Canterbury and Samla comparisons. There are probably now more nods to Miriodor. While this may disappoint some fans personally I find the continued growth and depth of their work a benefit to their sound. It's still got a very multilayered engaging sound with many moves and twist. It's a really nice modern avant jazz , beautifully balanced, album.

Nice jazz fusion with a strong sense of folk/traditional melody, pace and structure.

1. "Spadom" (4:11) melodic but perhaps a little simpistic. (7.5/10)

2. "Pestrottedans" (7:05) again demonstrating the band playing a little too tightly, too closely to the main melodic structure. (8.5/10)

3. "Barkus I Vinterland" (6:04) a much ore laid back song than the previous two, it establishes a very catchy melody straightaway with the saxophone before guest ELAINE DI FALCO is given a solo on accordion! Nice song that does very little unusual or extraordinary until the big band sound crescendo near the end. (7.5/10)

4. "Fundal" (6:54) nice slow off-tempo whole band build to open the song. Tense. Keys, saxes, and guitars forge a tight duel-like weave. One of the best songs on the album. (9/10)

5. "Tredje Malist" (4:13) pleasant little ditty with several melodies weaving in and out of each other. (8/10)

6. "Landsbysladder 3" (8:26) folk melodies melt into seductive jazz tunes with this one--and back and forth. Very refreshing and creative! A good song that went on a bit too long. (8.5/10)

7. "Goda' Gomorrah" (6:25) opens with an ominous electronic keyboard wall of sound. Is this Panzerpappa doing Kosmisches Musik? Slowly it builds with an awesome middle section dominated by a "horn section." (NEKTAR's "Nelly the Elephant" comes to mind.) The best song on the album. (9.5/10)

Nothing Earth-shattering here but good, solid prog rock from a folk jazz foundation.