SEHR KOSMISCH, GANZ PROGISCH

This is the project of Ketil Einarsen probably most known being part of WHITE WILLOW and JAGA JAZZIST but he's played on so many albums over the years. And he's enlisted many of those musicians he's played with to help him out here. Ketil wrote all the music and produced this recording, while playing flute, clarinet, keys, guitar and he adds programmed sounds. His buddy in WHITE WILLOW Jacob Holm-Lupo adds bass and guitar but he also mixed and mastered this album. Many of these musicians have played together. In fact five of these guys play in THE OPIUM CARTEL. Mattias Olsson from ANGLAGARD fame and more adds drums and he's very important to the sound here. Stephen Bennett adds keys and he's from HENRY FOOL, of course there's Lars Fredrik Froislie from WOBBLER adding synths and clavinet. How about Einer Baldursson the guitarist for GOSTA BERLINGS SAGA but also he's played with WHITE WILLOW and NECROMONKEY.

So a Krautrock album from Norway? Well Ketil was introduced to Krautrock in the 90's and fell in love with it. The band's name comes from a very beautiful area of Germany where the mountains and that river create gorgeous scenes. The music reminds me of HARMONIA, LA DUSSELDORF along with some CLUSTER and Eno influences I believe. Lots of higher pitched synths and keys but really the more I have listened to this the more intrigued and impressed I become. It's all instrumental but for some brief vocal melodies from Ketil. This is a homage to the 70's Krautrock scene. What an interesting album and there's so much talent on display here and so many connections.

"Tanzen Und Springen" gets us started and it's percussion and drums at first before a full sound arrives with guitar, keys and more. HARMONIA comes to mind here. It settles down after 2 minutes with bass and more before kicking back in. High pitched sounds after 3 1/2 minutes followed by an interesting sounding guitar solo. I do like that bass 5 minutes in. Drums and percussion like the intro follow after 5 1/2 minutes. A change before 7 minutes as spacey sounds dominate before some atmosphere adds depth. A full sound returns before 8 minutes with guitar, drums and much more. Percussion ends it.

"Das Trinklied Vom Jammer Der Erde" opens with experimental sounds. Interesting stuff as a beat starts to slowly build. Faint sitar can be heard eventually then some dark and melancholic synths arrive changing the mood. It turns louder after 2 1/2 minutes and the drums speed up as we hear mostly drums and synths here. It slows down a minute later before picking back up before 4 minutes. Lots of drums and synths once again. There's so much going on after 5 1/2 minutes. Incredible! Flute before 7 minutes with drums and synths. A calm a minute later as different sounds come and go until it kicks in with power. Nice. Check out that bass before 9 1/2 minutes, then those high pitched synths come to the fore. Love the drumming and guitar before 11 minutes. A dark and spacey calm takes over before 12 minutes and it becomes experimental with some avant Krautrock stuff to the end.

"Kunst Der Fuge" opens with light keys and spacey sounds. Drums and deep sounds join in just after a minute. It then picks up in pace, organ too. That drumming is relentless. Some brief vocal melodies after 3 1/2 minutes but the drums and synths continue to lead the way. Spacey synths 8 1/2 minutes in with the drums and bass standing out. The guitar comes in late then electronics ends it.

"Tristrant" is my favourite. Drums to start as spacey sounds join in. Bass and synths will arrive as well in this catchy soundscape. Man this reminds me of HARMONIA. Love the sound 2 minutes in, it's quite moving for some reason. A change before 3 minutes as it all stops and horns kick in. Back to that previous sound rather quickly though. More of that moving section before 5 minutes. The horns are back 7 minutes in. there's so much going on at this point but it will wind down to the end.

A solid 4 stars and an album that I'll get a lot of mileage out of given how unique it sounds. Well done!