TRØEN / ARNESEN QUARTET - Tread Lightly
Losen: LOS255-2
Elisabeth Lid Trøen: saxophone, flute; Dag Arnesen: piano; Ole Marius Sandberg: bass; Sigurd Steinkopf: drums
Recorded October 2020 by Yngve Saetre at Duper Studio, Bergen Norway
As Trøen winds down her exuberant solo on ‘Partysvensken’ (track 2), Arnesen’s piano plays a burbling motif that rises and falls like a stream before working back to the melody of the tune. There is, in this interplay, several aspects of the approach to music making of this quartet: a willingness to explore tones, particular in the improvisations, a lyricism in the compositions and melodies, and a quick-witted interplay between all four musicians. Each of the tunes make extensive use of composed elements, often hinting at the immediacy of folk melodies. This latter is especially noticeable on the introduction to ‘Sarah’s Bounce’, piano and flute sharing the gentle melody, and the piano developing this is into an elaborate theme.
On the opening track, saxophone and piano play in unison to produce a sound that feels much larger than a duo. At times I wondered whether there was multi-tracking on the sax, but repeated listens convince me that this is the power that Trøen has in producing sounds from her instrument and the seamlessness with which she and Arnesen are able to combine their sounds. Often, I was reminded of murmurations of starlings that I’d watched a couple of months ago, where masses of birds suddenly change direction as they swoop and weave exuberantly in the evening skies. In much the same way, sax and piano are inseparable and closely matched. But in other places, they are equally adept in ploughing their own clearly defined tunes and improvisations. So, just as Trøen leads on track 2, Arnesen takes the lead of ‘Just thinking’, track 3, and this alternation occurs across the session.
While Trøen’s sax playing shakes things up a little and Arnesen’s piano has a cool detachment, there is synergy in approach when Trøen switches to flute (on two of the tracks here). With her flute playing, Trøen echoes Arnesen’s focus on the minutiae and detail of melody, not merely slowing the mood to an elegy but also revelling in the ways in which facets of sound emerge and reverberate across the tune. From this point, it becomes apparent that the role of the sax is to both contribute to the lustre of the melodies and also to add that grit that can really bring out their shine.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen: LOS255-2
Elisabeth Lid Trøen: saxophone, flute; Dag Arnesen: piano; Ole Marius Sandberg: bass; Sigurd Steinkopf: drums
Recorded October 2020 by Yngve Saetre at Duper Studio, Bergen Norway
As Trøen winds down her exuberant solo on ‘Partysvensken’ (track 2), Arnesen’s piano plays a burbling motif that rises and falls like a stream before working back to the melody of the tune. There is, in this interplay, several aspects of the approach to music making of this quartet: a willingness to explore tones, particular in the improvisations, a lyricism in the compositions and melodies, and a quick-witted interplay between all four musicians. Each of the tunes make extensive use of composed elements, often hinting at the immediacy of folk melodies. This latter is especially noticeable on the introduction to ‘Sarah’s Bounce’, piano and flute sharing the gentle melody, and the piano developing this is into an elaborate theme.
On the opening track, saxophone and piano play in unison to produce a sound that feels much larger than a duo. At times I wondered whether there was multi-tracking on the sax, but repeated listens convince me that this is the power that Trøen has in producing sounds from her instrument and the seamlessness with which she and Arnesen are able to combine their sounds. Often, I was reminded of murmurations of starlings that I’d watched a couple of months ago, where masses of birds suddenly change direction as they swoop and weave exuberantly in the evening skies. In much the same way, sax and piano are inseparable and closely matched. But in other places, they are equally adept in ploughing their own clearly defined tunes and improvisations. So, just as Trøen leads on track 2, Arnesen takes the lead of ‘Just thinking’, track 3, and this alternation occurs across the session.
While Trøen’s sax playing shakes things up a little and Arnesen’s piano has a cool detachment, there is synergy in approach when Trøen switches to flute (on two of the tracks here). With her flute playing, Trøen echoes Arnesen’s focus on the minutiae and detail of melody, not merely slowing the mood to an elegy but also revelling in the ways in which facets of sound emerge and reverberate across the tune. From this point, it becomes apparent that the role of the sax is to both contribute to the lustre of the melodies and also to add that grit that can really bring out their shine.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
