The band consists of five Danish musicians educated at the Funen Music Conservatory and it was planned and rehearsed during a lockdown period in 2020. The music is basically jazz fusion where the group have put their own spin on the style and produced an esoteric, otherworldly sound of their own.
Travelling is the opening track and it sets the mood and style for the rest of the programme. Krebs plays a series of guitars against a background of swirling keyboard sounds from Meller. Jorgensen contributes heavy electric bass in tandem with Bundvig’s jazz-rock drumming. The overall sound produced by the group is a mesmeric, floating ensemble dominated by drifting keyboard lines and prominent guitar solos. Orbit is the first track to feature La Cour, who adds soft-focus flugelhorn to the proceedings.
The variation from piece to piece is determined by which musician is most dominant in solo; that’s mostly guitar but occasionally keyboard and, on rare occasions, trumpet or fat electric bass lines and chomping drums. Although this music has a hypnotic quality it is, for the most part, melancholy. Krebs plays guitar in a basic jazz-fusion style but occasionally gets into a convoluted improvised set of choruses in prog-rock format.
The band play their own music with conviction and have produced an original jazz-fusion ensemble sound which is unlike any other I have heard. It draws heavily on past masters of rock and fusion but has little in common with the mainstream jazz tradition. It is a carefully crafted in this studio recording and all five are capable improvisers. This release is available in both CD and vinyl formats.
Discography
Travelling; Orbit; The Abandoned Circus; The Poet; Manifolk; Trip One (40.57)
Mads La Cour (t, flh); Peter Kohlmetz Mellor (kyb); Simon Krebs (elg, g); Morten Jorgensen (elb); Nikolaj Bundvig (d). Denmark, March 2021.
April Records Apro 91 CD
