Erlend Apneseth Trio - Salika, Molika (2019) [Hi-Res]

Over the course of two album releases on the Hubro label, the Erlend Apneseth Trio has imagined a completely new landscape between folk, jazz and contemporary music. Since their 2016 debut the trio has been feted in both Norwegian and international press, nominated for various prizes and toured at home and abroad. For this new commissioned work, they have expanded their line-up by adding accordionist Frode Haltli, one of Norway’s foremost modern musicians. He has countless recordings and collaborations under his belt, across several genres, but often rooted in folk music – such as his acclaimed recent release Avant Folk. This concert is a very special encounter between some of the top players on the current experimental scene.

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

A Sonic Journey: Rather than over-egging an already rich pudding with too many ingredients, the resulting palimpsest of music, sound and spoken word comes across as entirely natural-sounding, while much of ’Salika, Molika’ positively rocks, with compulsive, middle-eastern influenced grooves riffing on minimalist ear-worm melodies and trip-hop beats. Elsewhere, eerie glissando drones, plucked strings and the accordion’s wheezy sighs meet the repetitive pulse of what sounds like percussive raindrops. This is deeply rooted music, at times so ancient-sounding that it feels like it was dug up out of the ground. At other times, the effect suggests a heroically modernist, mid-twentieth century take on medieval sources, rather as if Penderecki or Ligeti were re-scoring Bergman’s ’The Seventh Seal’. ’Salika, Molika’ is also very consciously structured as a kind of sonic journey, the music first emerging from – and then eventually returning to – whispers of pure sound, while in between various modes and influences are picked up and tried out. Throughout, the band – which with the addition of Haltli becomes a four-way supergroup – plays superbly. Guitarist Stephan Meidell is already a star of the Hubro catalogue with his solo album, ‘Metrics’, and as a third of the group Cakewalk; percussionist/drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde – who plays with Meidell in the duo Strings & Timpani – is also a member of the influential band Building Instrument.

“The project started with a commission from Bergen Kjøtt to make a concert with new music in a really big room in the old meat factory”, says Erlend Apseneth. “The idea was basically to write music, meet there for a week of rehearsals before the concert, and see how the music would develop in the room. Bringing in Frode was just that we saw this as an opportunity to work with him, all three of us being fans of what he has been doing for several years as a really top class contemporary musician. And I had just worked with Frode on his big project Avant Folk and felt a connection with his ideas, his musicianship, and the way he combines folk with other influences without losing the core of it.” (Bergen Kjøtt)