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Reviewed: Inge Weatherhead Breistein | Sigurd Hole | Spinifex | Alexi Tuomarila

Inge Weatherhead Breistein: Rust (Jazzland Recordings 3779671) | Sigurd Hole: Extinction Sounds (Elvesang 007) | Spinifex: Undrilling The Hole (Trytone TT559-103) | Alexi Tuomarila: Departing The Wasteland (Edition Records EDN1250)

Inge Weatherhead Breistein: Rust (Jazzland Recordings 3779671)

Bergen-based saxophonist and composer Inge Weatherhead Breistein first came to my attention through his collaborations with Jazzland label-mate John Derek Bishop (aka Tortusa), their 2022 album Ro revealing a lyrical player with a penchant for long melodic lines and circular breathing. It turns out that he’s also a noted producer of electronic and ambient music, and this EP-length collection draws together the various strands of his musical persona. He often samples and processes his horn beyond recognition but it nevertheless remains a central animator in the six studio-created soundscapes, which also draw on selected field recordings, synthesisers and analogue noise. 

The kosmische drones of Becoming Air are a delightful throwback to the 70s, while on Canvas Of Wonder Breistein’s chorale-like lines reach even further back in time for inspiration. Eroding Mass descends into an altogether darker realm, a contrast to the contemplative title track which seems to float weightlessly in space. Signalling a shift in tone, Defy Tranquility uses minimalist clicks and cuts to introduce a more pronounced rhythmic axis, while the soaring melodic lines of A Lucid Moment are anchored by some correspondingly impressive sub-bass. Followers of Nordic ambient jazz will find much to enjoy here, and with crisp studio mastering from the renowned Taylor Deupree, Rust is a stunning headphone experience too.

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Sigurd Hole: Extinction Sounds (Elvesang 007)

Norwegian bassist Sigurd Hole shares Breistein’s fascination with sound, but whereas Bresitein’s soundscapes are machine-made the ex-Tord Gustavsen bassist’s sound world is altogether more natural. Thematically linked to 2022’s Roraima in its concerns for biodiversity and conservation, Extinction Sounds shifts the focus from the Amazon rainforest to somewhere far closer to home. Evoking the transient everyday sounds, smells and luminosities that he experienced as a child in a mountain-side cabin near the family farm in Rendalen, Hole draws heavily on memory and instinct to create a composite portrait which, in a very different way, is as much imbued with the spirit of its surroundings as his outstanding 2020 album Lys / Mørke.

Recorded live at the 2023 TronTalks festival, Hole’s string-heavy ensemble features Jon Balke (piano), Torben Snekkestad (saxophone and trumpet), Sara Övinge (violin), Bendik Bjørnstad Foss (viola), Tanja Orning (cello) and percussionists Anders Kregnes Hansen and Veslemøy Narvesen. The music often uses extended techniques to mimic nature, and at various times you’ll sense the dull chime of sheep-bells, fast-flowing streams, brewing storms, mellifluous birdsong and the buzzing of insects. Most of the tracks are sub-five minutes in length, though each individual piece is an essential part of the mosaic. Compositional frameworks are more pronounced on chamber-ish pieces such as Ghostly Glow, Mountain Stream and Remnants Of An Old Pastorale, while the album’s brilliant 12-minute centrepiece Four Rooms moves with the unpredictable energies of free improvisation. Another exemplary addition to Hole’s discography, Extinction Sounds is also a timely reminder of what we all stand to lose if we fail to pay due attention to our surroundings.

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Spinifex: Undrilling The Hole (Trytone TT559-103)

The title of this, the ninth album from Amsterdam-based jazz-punk collective Spinifex, is quite typical of a group that seems to thrive on paradox and contradictions. Despite the very different musical backgrounds of the individual members, they have spent the best part of 20 years seeking out, and invariably finding, common musical ground. While their elision of rock with high-energy free jazz and complex charts no longer feels like the shock of the new, very few groups in contemporary jazz carry it off quite so well.

In something of a departure from past albums all of the pieces here were composed by German alto saxophonist and artistic director Tobias Klein, an adventurous and dextrous player with roots in contemporary classical music. The opening Embrace The Contradictions lands somewhere between Beefheart, Prime Time and the NRG Ensemble, both Klein and drummer Philipp Moser somehow escaping the maelstrom to carve out space to solo. The Ayler-esque title track juxtaposes the contrasting styles of Klein and tenor saxophonist John Dikeman and is laden with tension and surprise, while the odd meters and precision ensembles of Tatiana bring to mind earlier editions of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements. Undersung Flemish trumpeter Bart Maris rides a tsunami wave on the closing The Big Brother, taking me back to the 90s heyday of X-Legged Sally and their wonderfully idiosyncratic take on jazz-rock. Still dependably edgy after 20 years, Spinifex’s fusion of sophistication and guttural noise is as relevant today as it ever was.

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Alexi Tuomarila: Departing The Wasteland (Edition Records EDN1250)

For this, his fourth release in a decade-long association with Edition Records, Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila is ringing the changes. In his revealing album notes he describes how the global pandemic led to a prolonged period of self-reflection, and how a subsequent commission to compose for piano trio and symphony orchestra fundamentally altered his approach to music. Developing a greater appreciation of form, balance and sound, Departing The Wasteland combines top-drawer writing and arrangement with the studio polish of E.S.T., and it all gels together with a remarkable sense of cohesion.

Tuomarila’s longstanding trio with Mats Eilertsen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums) is augmented by André Fernandes (guitar), a fluid improviser who favours a little saturated distortion; three tracks feature a small horn section, and to further broaden the tonal palette the pianist also plays synthesiser. The changes are immediately apparent in the chiaroscuro contrasts of Towards Dark Light, electronic keyboards adding depth and opening a door into the weird world of pitch-bending. Amongst other highlights Fernandes’ full-blooded guitar lets rip on Gaman, the atmospheric Einarin Tipparellu and Inner Wasteland explode with melodic hooks, and the grooving Moreeni inspires a joyous solo from Tuomarila. Bassist Eilertsen contributes two strong pieces, the elegiac August, which leans heavily into Americana, and the rhythmically elastic finale Circle, which includes an impassioned tenor solo from José Pedro Coelho. Tuomarila’s most assured work since Seven Hills (2013), and if his album notes are to be believed, it is only just the beginning.

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