Emmeluth's Amoeba - Chimaera

Second album of adventurous free-jazz from Scandinavian quartet!

Without wishing to patronise our Scandinavian friends it's true to say most music fans in the UK would be hard-pushed to name any currently active Danish musicians. Sadly, that's more a reflection of Britain's blinkered outlook than it is on Denmark's musical reputation. What they probably don't know is that Scandinavia has an increasing reputation for producing world-class improvised jazz. Recent releases on label's such as Hubro being just the tip of this particular iceberg.

Signe Emmeluth is an example of a Danish musician breaking new ground at the coal-face of modern jazz. The young alto saxophonist, now based in Oslo, leads a quartet, collectively known as Emmeluth's Amoeba whose debut album, Polyp, was released in 2018. They've recently released a follow up Chimaera, which takes their music into new, ever more adventurous territory. Let's be clear, this is not music for the faint-hearted, but if you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll no doubt relish the journey this album will take you on.

Opening track 'Squid Circles' begins with Signe's lone saxophone making short sharp runs and closely clustered notes, gradually becoming more melodic and languid before the rest of the band begin to join in, adding discordant piano chords and scattering drums. The result may be disorientating but is equally hypnotic and intriguing once you allow yourself to be drawn in.

'AB' allows Emmeluth to push the saxophone to its limits with high pitched squeals designed to disorientate. The track evolves into a cartoonish romp that owes as much to Scott Bradley as it does to exponents of free-jazz. At the six-minute mark piano, guitar and saxophone conspire to conjure the image of a claustrophobic city soundscape - traffic rumbles, sirens wail and people rush about their business. It's quickly shifting mutations such as these that characterise Chimaera. At times cerebral, other times calm and soothing, occasionally humorous, but only ever a few notes away from being primal, even brutal and violent.

'Velvet' sees the quartet move into more impressionistic areas, mixing Debussy-eque textures with tinkling cocktail jazz piano. For all its calm, soothing feel there still lurks an ominous darkness just under the surface. These tensions and dynamics are further explored as the album branches out into more audacious and chaotic forms, free of cliché and full of honest, raw expressive emotion. It all makes for a brave and challenging record from a refreshingly uncompromising artist.

Emmeluth's Amoeba are -

Signe Emmeluth – alto saxophone and compositions

Christian Balvig – piano

Karl Bjorå – guitar

Ole Mofjell – drums

Click here for Øra Fonogram Records.

Interview with Jonas Waaben from The Sonic Dawn

(This feature first appeared in issue #87 of Shindig! magazine. For the full unpublished interview click over the jump at the bottom.)

The Sonic Dawn's new album is a graceful psych-rock odyssey. Drummer Jonas Waaben talks songs, sound and vision with Duncan Fletcher

“A lot of the album is about the end of the world, the idea that everything is coming to an end, we're fucked with the climate crisis, there won't be enough food around in a few generations, all those doomsday ideas which have a rational foundation,” says Jonas of 'Forever 1969', the lead single from The Sonic Dawn's new album Eclipse. “But change on a major level is possible if people come together. In 1969 you had Woodstock, also the largest peace marches against the Vietnam War, all that stuff. It's possible to turn the shit around, that's the message of the song.”

Drummer Jonas along with childhood friends Emil Bureau (vocals/guitar) and Niels 'Bird' Fuglede (bass) formed the band in Copenhagen in 2013. Eclipse is their third album, one which focuses on the art of the song. “We tried to really sharpen the concept for each song, make it sharp and shorter. On the previous albums we definitely had longer escapades whereas here we tried to go where we wanted to go immediately... Eclipse is in a way back to the roots of our own inspiration, a lot of that is sixties music. We admire that strange combination of a short, three-minute pop format song that can be trippy as fuck!”

The influences of The 13th Floor Elevators, Red Krayola, Country Joe & The Fish and more can all be heard on the album. Another defining feature is its subtlety and grace, achieved in part due to the tastes shared with producer Thomas Vang. “We tried to accomplish something far removed from a stadium rock sound or a modern, hard-hitting, bass-driven rock sound. It's much easier to work with someone like Thomas, he's a trained jazz musician and has produced a lot of jazz records out of his studio. He has a much better natural feel for how the group sounds in the room and how to capture that. Then we will try to push it further production-wise - 'hey man we need way more echo here' or 'it needs to get crazier.' But a good natural sound for the drums, he has an ear for that.”

The band are hitting the road hard in 2019 but a word of warning to anyone who hitches a lift with the trio - “If we see a hitch-hiker we will pick them up and continue playing stuff like Trout Mask Replica or Red Krayola or Beat Of The Earth. Just insane music and nobody will say anything. The hitch-hiker will just sit there frozen - 'who are these maniacs!?' haha! It's a very delicate form of torture, one that I take great pleasure in I must admit!”


Eclipse is out on February 1st on Heavy Psych Sounds

Click here for The Sonic Dawn's website.
Click here for Heavy Psych Sounds Records.
 
The Sonic Dawn are :-
Jonas Waaben – drums 
Emil Bureau – Vox/guitar
Niels 'Bird' Fuglede- bass

(Click over the jump to read the full unpublished interview)

The Youth - I'll Call Your Bluff / You've Done Me Wrong (Ltd. 7")

Blistering beat 'n' garage 7” from Denmark's latest suit wearing combo!!!

State Records' latest release sees label owner Mole at the control desk, this time at Ponswood Hit Factory up the road in Hastings as opposed to the label's usual in-house facilities in Kent. The results are no less impressive, with both sides of this limited 7” hitting a sonic sweet spot.

Though the band hail from contemporary Copenhagen, The Youth's sound is pitched somewhere between 1961 at Liverpool's Cavern and 1963 at Eel Pie Island. The Youth have a classic two guitar, bass and drums line-up, the vocal are shared between the band's frontline.

“I'll Call Your Bluff” features some Lennon-esque vocal bite from guitarist Lasse Tarp. Like a raw out-take from A Hard Day's Night deemed to rocky for the Fabs' teenybopper fanbase. It's just the ticket for today's garage community however.

Flipside “You've Done Me Wrong” has an equally attacking lead vocal from bassist David Peter Jørgensen, over a groovy take on the Louie Louie riff. Available now on limited 7” vinyl with a push-out centre. Back to mono indeed!

Click here for more on The Youth.

Click here for The Youth on Facebook.

Click here for the State Records website.