EMMELUTH’S AMOEBA - Chimaera
Ora Fonagram: OF149
Signe Emmeluth: alto saxophone; Christian Balvig: piano; Karl Bjora: guitar; Ole Mofjell: drums
Recorded February 2019 by Karl Klasele at Ora Studio, Trondheim.
Signe Emmeluth has been part of several key developments in Scandinavian jazz over the past few years (including Konge with Mats Gustavsson and Owl with Karl Bjora) and she is still to reach her 30th birthday. She has also been called on the play with a host of improv stalwarts, which is testament to the respect she has gathered and the originality of her playing and thinking about music. Part of this originality might come from her hearing music in ‘shapes and colours’. While this might not strictly be a form of synaesthesia, it does create a particularly idiosyncratic and novel way of imagining music. Following the intensity and excitement of their ‘Polyp’ CD, Emmeluth’s Amoeba return with a new collection of tunes that push the boundaries between jazz, improv and contemporary composed music. If anything, the playing is even more avant-garde and even more their own signature sound. Often it feels as if this is a band that is reversing the standard approach of playing the sheets and then finding space to improvise; rather what Amoeba do feels as if their natural habitat lies in improvisation and they occasionally regroup to play the composed sections before shifting off again. What continues to excite with this band is the ways in which the battle between structure and chaos is played out in front of the listener; at any point, the music threatens to burst apart and yet at all times there is the sense that the players are capable of taming the forces that they have unleashed. This approach to playing is a reflection of the totally controlled skittishness of their leader whose angular saxophone playing seems to be continually looking for ways to break the time signature within each bar, but to do this just enough for the pieces to be reassembled in the next bar. This is another assured set that does much to realign what it means to merge improv and composed music into a jazz that shimmers and swings.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Ora Fonagram: OF149
Signe Emmeluth: alto saxophone; Christian Balvig: piano; Karl Bjora: guitar; Ole Mofjell: drums
Recorded February 2019 by Karl Klasele at Ora Studio, Trondheim.
Signe Emmeluth has been part of several key developments in Scandinavian jazz over the past few years (including Konge with Mats Gustavsson and Owl with Karl Bjora) and she is still to reach her 30th birthday. She has also been called on the play with a host of improv stalwarts, which is testament to the respect she has gathered and the originality of her playing and thinking about music. Part of this originality might come from her hearing music in ‘shapes and colours’. While this might not strictly be a form of synaesthesia, it does create a particularly idiosyncratic and novel way of imagining music. Following the intensity and excitement of their ‘Polyp’ CD, Emmeluth’s Amoeba return with a new collection of tunes that push the boundaries between jazz, improv and contemporary composed music. If anything, the playing is even more avant-garde and even more their own signature sound. Often it feels as if this is a band that is reversing the standard approach of playing the sheets and then finding space to improvise; rather what Amoeba do feels as if their natural habitat lies in improvisation and they occasionally regroup to play the composed sections before shifting off again. What continues to excite with this band is the ways in which the battle between structure and chaos is played out in front of the listener; at any point, the music threatens to burst apart and yet at all times there is the sense that the players are capable of taming the forces that they have unleashed. This approach to playing is a reflection of the totally controlled skittishness of their leader whose angular saxophone playing seems to be continually looking for ways to break the time signature within each bar, but to do this just enough for the pieces to be reassembled in the next bar. This is another assured set that does much to realign what it means to merge improv and composed music into a jazz that shimmers and swings.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
