MATHIAS EICK – Ravensburg
ECM 671 0239 (CD) / 672 4656 (LP)
Mathias Eick: trumpet, voice; Hakon Aase: violin; Andreas Ulvo: piano; Audun Erlien: electric bass; Torstein Lofthus: drums; Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, percussion.
Recorded 8th-10th June by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio, Oslo
With track titles like ‘Family’ (track 1), ‘Children’ (track 2), ‘Friends’ (track 3), ‘Parents’ (track 5), ‘Girlfriend’ (track 6) and ‘For my grandmothers’ (track 8), you can see how this collection could easily have continued with its working title of ‘family’. This could then have provided a nice contrast to his acclaimed ‘Midwest’ CD which had its theme of exodus (from Norway to the American Midwest plains of Dakota) and the sense of dislocation of leaving people behind. And, perhaps, Ravensburg (the German town of one of his grandmothers) could be the sense of place to which one always returns. Or, perhaps, family (in the extended sense that Eick gives it) refers to that collection of people who, wherever you are, gives you a feeling of home.
One of the challenges that the pieces on this CD manage to solve beautifully is that of creating music which is both recognisably ‘jazz’ and also rooted in contemporary sensibility. To this end, Eick’s use of falsetto vocals on some of the tracks creates a resonance with experimental, alt-rock bands like Radiohead or Sigur Ros. The two-step rhythm (and use of bells) on track 2, ‘children’, in particular carries echoes of the former, and the haunting, elegiac wordless singing that introduces track 8, ‘For my grandmothers’, the latter. However, these aren’t in the least ‘rock’ ballads but create a complex pattern of rhythms that has intelligent use of instruments and that emphasise the twin drum approach to this sextet. Just as the two drummers bounce off each other to create shimmering textures, so Eick works with Aase’s violin to create delicately phrased conversations. Aase (familiar to readers from his work with Thomas Stronen’s Time is a Blind Guide group) has replaced Gjermund Larsen’s violin from the Midwest group. This creates a combination that is both familiar and also interestingly novel, with Aase’s tone and phrasing being somewhat different to that of Larsen’s and creating different contexts for the trumpet / violin dialogue.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
ECM 671 0239 (CD) / 672 4656 (LP)
Mathias Eick: trumpet, voice; Hakon Aase: violin; Andreas Ulvo: piano; Audun Erlien: electric bass; Torstein Lofthus: drums; Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, percussion.
Recorded 8th-10th June by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio, Oslo
With track titles like ‘Family’ (track 1), ‘Children’ (track 2), ‘Friends’ (track 3), ‘Parents’ (track 5), ‘Girlfriend’ (track 6) and ‘For my grandmothers’ (track 8), you can see how this collection could easily have continued with its working title of ‘family’. This could then have provided a nice contrast to his acclaimed ‘Midwest’ CD which had its theme of exodus (from Norway to the American Midwest plains of Dakota) and the sense of dislocation of leaving people behind. And, perhaps, Ravensburg (the German town of one of his grandmothers) could be the sense of place to which one always returns. Or, perhaps, family (in the extended sense that Eick gives it) refers to that collection of people who, wherever you are, gives you a feeling of home.
One of the challenges that the pieces on this CD manage to solve beautifully is that of creating music which is both recognisably ‘jazz’ and also rooted in contemporary sensibility. To this end, Eick’s use of falsetto vocals on some of the tracks creates a resonance with experimental, alt-rock bands like Radiohead or Sigur Ros. The two-step rhythm (and use of bells) on track 2, ‘children’, in particular carries echoes of the former, and the haunting, elegiac wordless singing that introduces track 8, ‘For my grandmothers’, the latter. However, these aren’t in the least ‘rock’ ballads but create a complex pattern of rhythms that has intelligent use of instruments and that emphasise the twin drum approach to this sextet. Just as the two drummers bounce off each other to create shimmering textures, so Eick works with Aase’s violin to create delicately phrased conversations. Aase (familiar to readers from his work with Thomas Stronen’s Time is a Blind Guide group) has replaced Gjermund Larsen’s violin from the Midwest group. This creates a combination that is both familiar and also interestingly novel, with Aase’s tone and phrasing being somewhat different to that of Larsen’s and creating different contexts for the trumpet / violin dialogue.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
