Anders Lønne Grønseth’s Multiverse: Tidkapsel #1
With each successive release Norwegian saxophonist and composer Anders Lønne Grønseth discovers new vehicles for his theories of bi-tonality. While 2022’s Outer View featured compositions from within the band and used modes from Indian raga and Middle Eastern maqam traditions, 2023’s more introverted Inner View focused on his own compositions, taking us deep into a post-classical sound world superficially resembling that of compatriot Jon Balke. Ringing the changes once again, Tidkapsel #1 (“time capsule”) is the first volume in a series of structured improvisations that will explore the many different facets of time.
The six multi-layered compositions, all Grønseth’s, pivot around contrasting pulses, durations, repetitions and cycles. For those curious about the technicalities, his detailed sleeve notes duly oblige, but the saxophonist is also at pains to stress that it’s not essential to understand the music’s theoretical underpinnings to enjoy it. Playing tenor throughout, his purity of tone and melodic turn of phrase on the ballads To Think Of What We’ve Been and Chromism III recall late-period Stan Getz. I hadn’t previously drawn a connection between Grønseth and the American, but it starts to make sense when you realise that noted Getzophile Hanna Paulsberg was one of his star pupils.
Berg’s sparsely distributed chords preface a captivating series of interlocking patterns wrapped around the sinuous melody of Khronos & Ananke, and Grønseth’s full-throated solo is a masterclass of rhythmic invention. The dreamy timbres of classical harpist Sidsel Walstad are fully enmeshed with the ensemble, and she takes centre stage on Eon, a jewel-like miniature built on hypnotic counterpoints. Aion emerges organically from its slipstream, bringing yet another majestic outing from Grønseth, while Berg’s free-flowing solo, buoyed by the wicked rhythmic disturbances of Ellingsen and Sceving, is no less impressive. Powell gets a chance to shine with an expressive muted solo on Kairos & Tyche, another highlight in an album festooned with riches. Volume Two is due in 2026, and if it’s half as good as this we’re in for a treat.
Discography
Khronos & Ananke; Eon (harp); Aion; To Think Of What We’ve Been; Kairos & Tyche; Chronism III (59.00)
Grønseth (ts); Hayden Powell (t); Espen Berg (p); Audun Ellingsen (b); Einar Sceving (d); Sidsel Walstad (hp). Asker, Oslo, 1-2 May 2024.
Pling Music PLING026
Trond Kallevåg: Minnesota
The weeping pitch-bends of the pedal-steel guitar have become synonymous with contemporary Norwegian jazz, used to great effect by Nils Petter Molvær, Erland Dahlen, Mathias Eick and others. There is even a hybrid genre known as “Nordicana” which blends Scandi folk and American country, and guitarist and pedal-steel maestro Trond Kallevåg is one of the scene’s leading lights. His three previous Hubro releases have demonstrated why the two ostensibly disparate musics make such natural bedfellows while this stellar quartet operates in a terrain which should be familiar to fans of Bill Frisell and Julian Lage.
Extending the theme of trans-Atlantic migration that ran through 2023’s Amerikabåten, Kallevåg’s gaze fixes in an unashamedly westerly direction. The release is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first organised migration on the sloop Restauration, which took 52 emigrants from Stavanger to New York in 1825. Several pieces were commissioned for the Sildajazz Festival in 2022, while the remainder took inspiration from old stories, letters and photographs and were developed in autumn 2024 during Kallevåg’s month-long sojourn on the remote northerly island of Træna.
The sense in which the music is both nostalgic and of the present is little short of remarkable. Pine Ridge and the contrasting Edward Curtis Portraits, a short ambient sketch inspired by the photographer’s famous portraits of native Americans, are two of the standouts. The former, dark and foreboding, is a soundtrack worthy of David Lynch. The quartet slowly build atmosphere, swarms of multi-tracked guitar rising to a crescendo, yet the way in which Kallevåg brings it back down again is equally impressive.The pliant and somewhat wistful violin of rising star Tuva Halse is particularly effective on Houses. Kindness Of Strangers and The Boat Song recall Frisell’s exquisitely mannered chamber pieces, and the Tex-Mex shuffle and Telecaster twangs of Lighthouse Boogie find Eilertsen and Nilssen straining at the leash to cut loose. It’s a near-perfect hour of musical escapism, showing that Kallevåg is clearly a force to reckoned with.
Discography
Twins Of Træna; Houses; Pine Ridge; The Boat Song; Edward Curtis Portraits; Kindness Of Strangers; Pretty Polly; Postmarked From Honolulu; Red Stranger; Lighthouse Boogie; To Mom (46.00)
Kallevåg (elg, pedal steel, fx); Tuva Halse (vn); Mats Eilertsen (b); Gard Nilssen (d, vib). Oslo, 29-31 October 2025.
Hubro Music HUBRO LP/CD 2672
Spinifex: Maxximus
Amsterdam-based punk-jazz collective Spinifex have been branching out in some unexpected directions of late. Last year’s Undrilling The Hole was devoted exclusively to the music of the group’s German saxophonist and director Tobias Klein, an unlikely but ultimately successful excursion into the hinterlands of contemporary classical music. This latest set, released to mark the group’s 20th anniversary, is no less ambitious. Embracing predominantly acoustic timbres, the group is augmented by vibraphonist Evi Filippou, cellist Elisabeth Coudoux and violist Jessica Pavone, while both Stadhouders and Almeida frequently play unplugged.
With track lengths averaging 10 minutes, musical ideas develop over a longer arc. Of course, it wouldn’t be Spinifex without moments of collective tumult, but the group’s more febrile exchanges sit adjacent to passages rich in tonal colour and textural depth. Stadhouders’ opening track Smitten offers an excellent case in point, its tightly drawn and almost regal theme gradually fraying at the edges as individual lines intersect and deviate from the centre. Moser finally pulls the pin, triggering a headlong rush into a thrilling passage of high-energy free jazz before order is finally restored, the arc turning 360 degrees as the composition’s boundaries reassert their presence.
Elsewhere, the hard-edged theme of Klein’s Sack & Ash is archetypal Spinifex, yet rather than riding the propulsive groove Klein slowly peels away the layers and deconstructs it. The saxophonist also contributes Phoenix, its rough-hewn theme providing the backdrop to a lengthy passage of free improvisation which includes some hilarious knockabout exchanges from the percussionists. Coudoux’s multi-sectioned Springend is one of the most striking and complex of the set, while Maris’s Annie Golden pays homage to actress and singer with 70s proto-punk band The Shirts, moving from atonal drone to Breukeresque absurdism. Almeida’s wittily titled finale, usually an electro-acoustic piece, sounds like a collaboration between Stockhausen and the ICP Orchestra and is emblematic of everything that the group stands for. All bets are off as to where Spinifex will go next, but until then Maxximus should not be missed.
Discography
Smitten; Sack & Ash; Phoenix; Springend; Annie Golden; The Privilege Of Playing The Wrong Notes (70.00)
Bart Maris (t); Tobias Klein (as, bcl); John Dikeman (ts, bs); Jasper Stadhouders (g, elg); Gonçalo Almeida (b); Philipp Moser (d); Jessica Pavone (vla); Elisabeth Coudoux (clo); Evi Filippou (vib, pc). Pardubice, Czechia, 6 April 2025.
Trytone Records TT559-114
