The quintet I Just Came From The Moon formed in around 2014, coming together through sessions at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark. Their first album, titled Hoax, was released in 2017 and followed by extensive touring. It was recorded on a small island named Fur that sits in northern Denmark’s Limfjord and the process took two years. The result is a personal and expressive album.
Beginning with the lo-fi White, a sparse drum kit and two-note melodic pattern sets a minimalist stage for the simple horn-section melody. As the track evolves, the drums loom larger with repeated cymbal crashes and snare hits, and as reverb accentuates the guitar, a saxophone solo emerges from the distance, before the track finally closes with the original melody.
The stripped back atmosphere continues throughout the album, as the tracks focus on exploring and building on musical ideas and themes. Dark Latin takes a two-chord acoustic-guitar motif, with a slow and melancholy horn melody, backed by offbeat percussion that slowly intensifies. The title track begins with a deep woodwind melody and dry, plucked bass; they’re joined by a fuzzy guitar arpeggio before a rich, warm trumpet enters, creating an impassioned and searching piece. The final track, Snowman, takes a slow, echoing guitar and bass phrase, and builds with saxophone as the atmosphere deepens and the arrangement grows more complex, culminating in a vast and intense instrumental.
Ånd Ud mixes modern instrumental jazz with a folky style and a distinctly lo-fi atmosphere, creating a captivating album that could appeal to both modern and more traditional jazz fans.
Discography
White; Utke; Fossils; Dark Latin; Ånd Ud; Mexico; Incendies; Brothers; Snowman (38.08)
Nikolaj Bugge (g); Nis Myrtue (ts, cl); Tobias Andreassen (d); Jonas Scheffler (t); Frederik Hagner (b). Limfjorden, Denmark, no date.
April Records APR089CD
