Birdsong and spare, plucked bass open this most enjoyable release from the Norwegian Gjørvad and his compatriots. Despite the album title, George Harrison has nothing to do with this typically left-field item from Losen Records, a Norwegian label that has established quite a reputation of late.
Other instruments – piano, drums, guitar – soon enter the atemporal yet enticing “sound field” of Birds Awake before the following Skumpa explodes into (short-lived) rhythmic life. The two tracks set the tone for an album of quirky intelligence, freshly conceived swing and spacious albeit precisely turned group interaction.
Leader Gjørvad shows his solo drum chops early on in Min Far, and both Round About and the sax-fed Voi River cook “like crazy”. But while chops and swing are in welcome evidence, the music can transmute such qualities to attain a welcome quality of “something else”.
Hear the focused intensity in the rip of the potent guitar work on the swinging yet meditative Prepare. Enjoy the freshly framed lyrical reflection, the mix of spacious ringing piano, shuffle drum figures and purposive pizzicato bass on If You Were A Melody. And, above all, sample the haunting, spare beauty of the piano-led and guitar coloured Dazzling Blue.
Here Comes The Sun is the fourth in a seasons-based cycle of recordings from Gjørvad. On this evidence, all four should amply reward close attention.
Discography
(1) Birds Awake; Skumpa; Capers On Everything; Faren Min; Prepare; If You Were A Melody; Round About; And The Nutmeg; Dagen Svinner; Dazzling Blue; (2) Voi River (39.10)
Herborg Rundborg (p, v); Kristian Svalestad Olstad (g, v); Dag Okstad (b, bird whistle); Gjørvad (d, v). (2) as (1) plus Eirik Hegdal (reeds). Tromsø, 16-19 June 2022.
Losen Records LOS 279-2
