Credit for this featured CD : wideopenears
Based on a CD received from the collection bequeathed to Progressive Ears by Chris Buckley (Winkersnuff)
wideopenears's comments:
I have Pestrottedans and Astromalist, later releases, so I had some idea what to expect, but .....Passer Gullfisk is apparently their first release, and is a CDR with a hand-printed booklet and label. released in 2000, this is the work of a quartet-:
Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Melodica, Glockenspiel – Jørgen Skjulstad
Drums, Percussion, Balafon, Glockenspiel,– Trond Gjellum
Electric Guitar – Knut Tore Abrahamsen
Saxophone, Synthesizer, Electric Piano – Steinar Børve
These guys create a through-composed, knotty, instrumental music which owes something to the Canterbury styles of National Health, Gilgamesh, and Hatfield and the North, though without the "English whimsy" and humor. (and no vocals). I also detect elements in common with other Nordic bands like Anglagard, in melodic and harmonic content, and also a certain quasi-classical/RIO influence, though this music is not as "dark" or "Symphonic" as Anglagard, nor as goofy as Samlas Mammas Manna. The mallet percussion plays a large role in their rhythmic grooves, and the melodies are often carried on what sound like woodwinds--saxophone, but also other wind instruments which could be synths, perhaps. There are five tracks, and there's quite a bit of variety--from driving, bass-driven grooves to more contemplative, spare pieces with melodic saxophone and mallet rhythm and little else. There are moments of beauty here, and a sense of playfulness, though not in the overt sense you'd find in Samlas or some of the British or French RIO/Avant/Canterbury bands that influenced them, to my ears.
I'd say this is a full-realized debut, and the hand-drawn goofy cover doesn't really capture the music within, which is pretty advanced and not cartoonish at all. Lovely stuff.
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