Salika, Molika Erlend Apneseth Trio

• 1 Mor Song 04:29
• 2 Salika, Molika 03:46
• 3 Cirkus 04:52
• 4 Pyramiden 06:35
• 5 Takle 03:50
• 6 Solreven 04:38
• 7 Kirkegangar 04:44
• Total Runtime 32:54

Info for Salika, Molika

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)

Erlend Apneseth, hardanger fiddle
Stephan Meidell, baritone guitar, electronics
Øyvind Hegg Lunde, drums, percussion
Frode Haltli, accordion

Erlend Apneseth
is one of Norway’s most renowed Hardanger fiddle players. Traditionally rooted, in recent years Apneseth has made the contemporary/improvised music scene his home and has received critical praise from folk, jazz and contemporary music magazines alike. His trio ‘Erlend Apneseth Trio’ features drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (Building Instrument, José Gonzalez) and guitarist Stephan Meidell (Cakewalk, Krachmacher).

The Erlend Apneseth Trio’s first album, «Det Andre Rommet», earned glowing praise in Norway and abroad, and received both a Norwegian Folk Music Award in the open category and a nomination for Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian Grammy). The BBC Music Magazine gave it the highest possible rating, and wrote: “The diversity of moods, styles, settings – and the track sequence – make for an enthralling listen.” MOJO praised the trio’s “close, intuitive compositions groaning, roiling and clattering with a raw exploratory life, creating a wild new strain of Norwegian folk tunes that move, appropriately, from sun-dappled utopianism to the bleakest noir netherworld.” Now the trio is returning with a masterly, poetic and surprising album where the musicians sound more cohesive than ever. Erlend Apneseth Trio will release their third album, «Salika, Molika», on Hubro in April 2019.

This album contains no booklet.