I knew little of the US-Norwegian guitarist Bjørn Charles Dreyer before his 2021 album Time And Mass (NXN Records), a beautifully poignant set of electro-acoustic soundscapes recorded and mixed at the Punkt Studio by Jan Bang and Erik Honoré. Born in New York in 1968 and moving to Norway as a child, Dreyer has appeared as a freelance on more than 170 genre-spanning recordings, and his list of credits reads like a who’s who of the new Scandinavian jazz.
Like its predecessor, Fourth Wave And The Moon has a strong autobiographical thread, this time exploring the sense of resilience and optimism that often follows grief. It is also a very site-specific work, drawing inspiration from Dreyer’s home on the rugged southern coast of Norway.
At the core of each piece is his regular trio with cellist Ariel De Wolf and Henning Seldal, and a panoply of guests including trumpeter Arve Henriksen, drummer Erland Dahlen and musical alchemist Erik Honoré each add their own unique colours.
Honoré’s studio post-production is in many respects critical to the overwhelming success of the mix. The acoustic outlines of each piece were initially recorded in a remote coastal chapel, the producer then layering-in synthesisers and processed sounds. Yet Dreyer’s music always receives the space it needs to breathe, and this is undoubtedly a very personal work.
Earthbound, The Emigrant and Contemplace reveal something of Dreyer’s dual heritage, tapping into a seam of prairie Americana. The slow procession of Days Maybe Weeks and blissful abstraction of Ghost Vessel bring echoes of Geir Jenssen’s Biosphere and are unmistakably Scandi. Henriksen’s Miles-ian exchanges with Lars Kristin Lia on Armada are amongst the album’s highlights, while the hopeful Frisellian airs of the final Contemplace arrive like a shaft of radiant sunlight, rounding-off Dreyer’s captivating electro-acoustic masterpiece in fitting style.
Discography
The Sound Of The Sea; The Lighthouse Keeper; Earthbound; Days Maybe Weeks; Endgame (Shostakovich String Quartet no. 8, Met 4); Armada; Fourth Wave And The Moon; Ghost Vessel; Harbour Dawn; The Emigrant; Contemplace (39.31)
Dreyer (elg) with Ariel de Wolf (clo); Henning Seldal (pc); Arve Henriksen (t) on tracks 2 & 6; Ronnie Jacobsen (elb, p) on 3, 7 & 10; Erland Dahlen (d) on 3, 7 & 10; Erik Honoré (elec, synth) on 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10 & 11; Lars Kristin Lia (elec) on 6; Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra on 8. Vestbygda Chapel, Lista, Norway, 8-11 June 2023.
Dreyer Music DM1CD
