HEDVIG MOLLESTAD: EKHIDNA

4.5 stars. "Ekhidna" is under Hedvig Mollestad not the Hedvig Mollestad Trio. This is a six piece and her drummer and bass player from the Trio are not here. This is something different. Two keyboardists and one plays in GRAND GENERAL an awesome band from Sweden. The drummer is from ELEPHANT9 and we also get a percussionist. And the key might be the trumpet player who is from FIRE! ORCHESTRA and she is prominent on this record. But this is about guitarist extraordinaire Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen. This girl can play! She produced the record and composed it.

A little different flavour then what we got from her Trio with jazz being more the focus here. Still we get some heavy rock guitar sections that sound really good. She would be a pleasure to see live. The opening track "No Friends But The Mountains" and "Slightly Lighter" are the two songs that don't do a lot for me and the latter is very pastoral with guitar only for 3 minutes. They are the two shortest tracks at least but man the rest is gravy as they say. Four killer tunes ranging from 7 to 10 minutes.

"A Stone's Throw" is all about the guitar and drums early on and man this sounds amazing. Trumpet kicks in as well and there's lots going on at this point. We get a couple of calms then it ends like it began. "Antilone" along with the title track are my favourites. Love the guitar intro, so fast paced. The trumpet arrives when the music settles back each time. Again the drumming is so impressive. Check out the dissonant trumpet and she gets really innovative at times on here. I've never quite heard the things she does with that instrument. Drums and percussion then it kicks back in before 6 minutes. Man this is good! Check out the light show from Hedvig 8 minutes in to the end.

The title track opens with me just shaking my head at how good the guitar is. Drums join in then trumpet which trades off with the guitar for a while. Percussion galore before 3 minutes as the trumpet solos. Check out that trumpet sound after 3 1/2 minutes. It turns fuller before 5 minutes then it gets experimental. Electric piano, guitar, drums and trumpet all come and go. So interesting then we get synths. "One Leaf Left" is the excellent closer. A more relaxed tune but they turn up the heat later as Hedvig does here John McLaughlin impression. So good! The trumpet again sounds so inventive and we get electric piano too.

This is the best thing I've heard from Hedvig and as far as the Trio goes I recommend "Smells Funny". I know the cover art is all done by the same visual artist and he has a vision when it comes to them but I am not a fan at all. There's one I like from "Smells Funny" coincidently enough.