EIVIND AUSTAD TRIO - Northbound
Losen: LOS211-2
Eivind Austad: piano; Magne Thormodsaeter: bass; Hakon Mjaset Johnasen: drums
Recorded April 26th and 27th 2019 by Davide Bertolinin at The Grieg Academy, Bergen
The first of Austad’s Trio recordings, ‘Moving’, was released in 2015 and closed with Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’. On this set, he includes a version of ‘Space Oddity’ – where the main theme is introduction through double bass and where the tune is reworked, through slightly dissonant chords, into an elegy but also an exploration of the ways in which a song that is so familiar can be rendered in unfamiliar ways. What is particularly haunting about the version is the way that Austad leaves so many of the notes hanging in the air before resolving the phrase. There is also, in the choice of chords and phrasings, something very European. This contrasts, as Austad says in his liner notes, with an approach that leant on the American tradition of the piano trio. In part this might have come from the structure of the tunes, and in part from the fact that the trio had little time to practice the tunes prior to recording. Their different schedules had meant that they had not toured the tunes together and they reconvened only a couple of days before recording. The opening bars of ‘7 Souls’ see Austad developing a simple series of chords which segue into a haunting ballad, with bass and drums keeping respectful distance from the tune until about half way in when the cymbals start to chivvy the tune along and the bass picks up a tune of its own. In this piece, you have almost a story of the trio getting to know each other and then within minutes finding their roles and hitting the tunes, with the effect of the second half of the tune conveying a sense of improvisation and joint composition.
The way that the trio approach the compositions feels as if there is a continual urge to strip as much as possible away from the phrasing and structure of each tune so that they create minimalist skeletons on which the notes can be suspended and that the listener can actively participate in ‘hearing’ the tunes in full. This is not to say that the pieces are unduly complicated or seriously avant-garde, but rather that the talent of the trio is to find richness in the silences between notes and create an elegant music through which players knows exactly when to act and when to pause. Compared to many of today’s more excitable piano trios, it is a pleasure to have music in which you can so completely immerse yourself.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen: LOS211-2
Eivind Austad: piano; Magne Thormodsaeter: bass; Hakon Mjaset Johnasen: drums
Recorded April 26th and 27th 2019 by Davide Bertolinin at The Grieg Academy, Bergen
The first of Austad’s Trio recordings, ‘Moving’, was released in 2015 and closed with Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’. On this set, he includes a version of ‘Space Oddity’ – where the main theme is introduction through double bass and where the tune is reworked, through slightly dissonant chords, into an elegy but also an exploration of the ways in which a song that is so familiar can be rendered in unfamiliar ways. What is particularly haunting about the version is the way that Austad leaves so many of the notes hanging in the air before resolving the phrase. There is also, in the choice of chords and phrasings, something very European. This contrasts, as Austad says in his liner notes, with an approach that leant on the American tradition of the piano trio. In part this might have come from the structure of the tunes, and in part from the fact that the trio had little time to practice the tunes prior to recording. Their different schedules had meant that they had not toured the tunes together and they reconvened only a couple of days before recording. The opening bars of ‘7 Souls’ see Austad developing a simple series of chords which segue into a haunting ballad, with bass and drums keeping respectful distance from the tune until about half way in when the cymbals start to chivvy the tune along and the bass picks up a tune of its own. In this piece, you have almost a story of the trio getting to know each other and then within minutes finding their roles and hitting the tunes, with the effect of the second half of the tune conveying a sense of improvisation and joint composition.
The way that the trio approach the compositions feels as if there is a continual urge to strip as much as possible away from the phrasing and structure of each tune so that they create minimalist skeletons on which the notes can be suspended and that the listener can actively participate in ‘hearing’ the tunes in full. This is not to say that the pieces are unduly complicated or seriously avant-garde, but rather that the talent of the trio is to find richness in the silences between notes and create an elegant music through which players knows exactly when to act and when to pause. Compared to many of today’s more excitable piano trios, it is a pleasure to have music in which you can so completely immerse yourself.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
