PYRAMID

The Norwegian NuJazz leaders are back with another album displaying the progression of their sound. The same rhythm patterns as used in 2015's excellent Starfire are this time enhanced by new, fresh sounds from both electronica as well as electronically treated voices and instruments.

1. "Tomita" (13:46) breathy, plaintive saxophone, electric piano, background synthesizer--this sounds like something from either Harold Budd's first collaboration with Brian Eno, Pavillion of Dreams, or one of WEATHER REPORT's classic 1970s albums. Eno/Ryuichi Sakamoto-like programmed percussion and synth horns enter in the fourth minute, eventually receding behind the emerging drum kit, electric bass, and electric guitar play of a lounge jazz combo. Soft, breathy horns and delicate electric guitar play continue into the seventh minute as a jazzy melody is built and embellished. Then, early in the eighth minute, all rhythm instruments cease while horns and guitars continue--kind of recreating the introductory soundscape--until 8:25 when the rhythmists return and the song reconnects with the melodic weave from earlier. All this is interrupted with a quite radical detour in the tenth minute to what sounds like a bridge but then becomes more like the drummer and bass player have gotten stuck in short time loop. Eventually they break the loop and emerge onto a landscape of colorful and joyous sunlight as multiple synths, guitars, and voices celebrate the alien sunset arrival, the end of the world, and the peaceful transition of all life forms to their simplified energetic sources. Nice. Very engaging main weave. (26.5/30)

2. "Spiral Era" (8:08) the rhythms are the same, purely Jaga Jazzist, but the melodies and spacey textures are different, catchy. (13.25/15)

3. "The Shrine" (9:06) opening with some gently, spaciously woven horns, drums and breathy bass instruments join in (I'm reminded of Markus Pajakkala's 2017 release, Brutiopianisti), gradually moving into a moderately-paced whole-band fabric. At the end of the fourth minute "large" horn section begins adding it's EARTH WIND AND FIRE- like wall of melodies and accents. Despite a few brief dream-like interludes between horn-dominated sections, this is the bulk of the song. Never thought I'd dis a JJ song, but this one does nothing for me. (15.5/20)

4. "Apex" (8:08) marginally outside the realm of disco, there is a very retro-1980s DEPECHE MODE/1970s DONNA SUMMER sound palette to this one. Too bad it lacks any interesting or even moderate development. (A key change in the third minute! The dropping out of all non-rhythm track instruments around the five-minute and seven- minute marks! A synthesizer solo in the bass end during the sixth minute! Some increased filler in the treble clef during the seventh minute!). (13/15)

Total Time 39:08

The music corresponding to the titles seem mismatched to me. I hear very little Tomita in the opening song. I hear very little Nigerian melody or rhythms in the supposed tribute to Fela Kuti, "The Shrine," and I get very little of a "symphony" feel from the overall feel and flow of the album.

B/four stars; a nice addition to any prog lover's music collection, though, in my opinion, not up to the standards of previous JJ releases.

I cherish the previous three albums of the Jaga Jazzist a lot. In fact, "What We Must" for me is one of the best albums of the 2000s. I like the powerful big arrangements, and how all the musicians come together in one big stream that however still leaves room for some subtleties, majestic rather than heavy; also their melodies have a capacity to stay in my mind for long, and to take me with them.

Pyramid is maybe their most relaxed album (at least of the later ones). There are still eight musicians listed for this one, but over large parts of the album we hear say 3-5 at a time, so somewhat more space is left for escaping the stream of things, which also takes more time to kick in during the four pretty long and slowly developing instrumental tracks. It seems they wanted to integrate some post rock elements in here; there are also some electronic elements (particularly in Apex with its sequenced synthesizer rhythm that at time sounds a bit like the 2019 Battles album I just reviewed yesterday). Some of the best moments come when a sparse rhythmic beginning is re-interpreted and changed in a surprising yet logical manner when new instruments come in, for example in the build up of Spiral Era and The Shrine.

However, the typical Jaga Jazzist elements like the breezy nordic woodwind and brass melodies are still there. Arrangements are leaner than before but still the musicality works well putting together very organic and natural sounding music. So I can well imagine both Jaga Jazzist fans and people with a melodic post rock or also somewhat jazz influenced background enjoying this, and actually I do, too. It is indeed very nice and relaxing music. This one issue I have with this is that the amount of ideas and variation isn't much for 39 minutes of music. It's a good album from beginning to end, still I somehow feel that they might have put only 30-50% of the energy and work into this than into their previous efforts, with some of the best parts harking back to their earlier albums, for which reason I will only give this 3.2 stars. Anyway its nature may appeal to some and may even make it an entry point to the great Jaga Jazzist if you come from the right direction.