Mathias Eick - Ravensburg (ECM 2018)

One of the pleasures of Mathias Eick’s Midwest album was hearing his vaulting trumpet supported by violin, an instrumental combination further developed on Ravensburg. The new violinist in Eick’s ensemble is Håkon Aase, one of the up-and-coming players of the new Norwegian scene, whom attentive ECM listeners will already know from his work with Thomas Strønen’s group. The core Eick road band is further shored up by the addition of Helge Andreas Norbakken, who interacts excitingly with fellow drummer Torstein Lofthus. Eick is in great form as a writer on this showing, deploying driving rhythm at the bottom end of his music and soaring melody at the top in this series of pieces which add up to a kind of collective family portrait. Ravensburg was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in June 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher, and is issued on the eve of European tour.

1 FAMILY (Mathias Eick) 04:12

2 CHILDREN (Mathias Eick) 05:42

3 FRIENDS (Mathias Eick) 06:14

4 AUGUST (Mathias Eick) 04:57

5 PARENTS (Mathias Eick) 05:12

6 GIRLFRIEND (Mathias Eick) 05:11

7 RAVENSBURG (Mathias Eick) 05:33

8 FOR MY GRANDMOTHERS (Mathias Eick) 02:49

Mathias Eick   Trumpet, Voice

Håkon Aase   Violin

Andreas Ulvo   Piano

Audun Erlien   Electric Bass

Torstein Lofthus   Drums

Helge Andreas Norbakken   Drums, Percussion

Thomas Strønen, Time Is A Blind Guide - Lucus (ECM January 19, 2018)

Norwegian drummer/composer Thomas Strønen presents a revised edition of his acoustic collective Time Is A Blind Guide, now trimmed to quintet size, and with a new pianist in Wakayama-born Ayumi Tanaka. Tanaka has spoken of seeking associative connections between Japan and Norway in her improvising, a tendency Strønen seems to be encouraging with his space-conscious writing for the ensemble, letting in more light. As on the group’s eponymously-titled and critically-lauded debut album there are excellent contributions from the string players – the quintet effectively contains both a string trio and a piano trio – and Manfred Eicher’s production brings out all the fine detail in the grain of the collective sound and the halo of its overtones, captured in the famously-responsive acoustic of Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in March 2017.

1. La Bella

2. Friday

3. Release

4. Lucus

5. Fugitive Places

6. Baka

7. Wednesday

8. Tension

9. Truth Grows Gradually

10. Islay

11. Weekend

Thomas Strønen, drums

Ayumi Tanaka, piano

Håkon Aase, violin

Lucy Railton, cello

Ole Morten Vågan, double bass

Jinchūriki - Kyūbi (2016) NAKAMA RECORDS

Violinists Håkon Aase and Adrian Løseth Waade is releasing their first record as a duo on Nakama Records

The two handsome guys above are Adrian Løseth Waade and Håkon Aase. These two remarkable violin players have put their wits and musicality together, borrowed both band name and album title from the Japanese cult-manga "Naruto", and made a curious piece of art entitled Kyūbi. 

Jinchūriki says: "This album is a free exploration of sound within the bounds of two violins and the musicians playing them. Close interplay and together-ness permeates the 36 minutes of eclectic but hopefully cohesive music, ranging in expression from reductionist and sparse textures, to filmscore-like tonal landscapes with clear dramatic outlines. We feel that this record reflects both our dionysic and apollinian sides, and hope that the balance between the two can possibly create something universal which the listener can relate to."

Kyūbi - out on CD/LP/Digital on the 29th of August