Erlend Apneseth Trio - Salika, Molika (2019)

Folk past meets folk future in the Erlend Apneseth Trio's new album of music, sound and spoken word, featuring accordionist Frode Haltli.

The third album by the trio of Erlend Apneseth, Norway's new star of the Hardanger fiddle, builds on the foundations set by their acclaimed debut recording, 'Det Andre Rommet' (which was nominated for a Norwegian 'Grammy') and its equally praised follow-up, 'Ara', to create a thrillingly contemporary-sounding amalgam of old and new, mixed and co-produced once again by Jorgen Træeen.

Commissioned by Bergen Kjott, 'Salika, Molika' combines elements from traditional folk music with experimental improvisation and electronics to produce a fascinating hybrid form where inspired acoustic picking on fiddle and baritone guitar or zither plus percussion is matched by live sampling and processing to create intricately patterned tessellations of sound. The addition of the celebrated accordionist and composer Frode Haltli - on whose masterly Hubro album of 2018, 'Avant Folk', Erlend Apneseth played - deepens the mix to produce a denser yet more nuanced ensemble-sound, while the incorporation of spoken word and ambient recordings - following a model first established in 'Ara' - provides a further discursive layer to the musical text.