If experimental music meant to be serious, Spunk would
most definitely not even bother. Formed ten years ago
by Maja Solveig Kjelstrup
Ratkje, Kristin Andersen, Hild Sofie Tafjord and
Lene Grenager, Spunk spent a few years regularly playing
live before their first album, Det Eneste Jeg Vet
Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger, was released
on the then newly-formed Rune Grammofon imprint. Combining
elements of avant-garde jazz and classical with a resolutely
playful and ambitious approach of noise and improvisation,
this debut showcased the quartet’s impressive
focus and vision, and gained considerable praises all
over the world. The tracks from the album were later
revisited by some of the band’s friends, including
Lasse Marhaug, Martin
Horntveth, Kim Hiorthøy
or Andres Mjøs, and collected on Filtered
Through Friends in 2002, with the band’s
second opus, Den
Øverste Toppen På En Blåmalt Flaggstang,
appearing a few months later, once again on Rune Grammofon.
With the various members all involved in numerous projects,
Spunk as an entity remains rare and precious. With the
formation celebrating ten years of sonic explorations,
Ratkje, Andersen,
Tafjord and Grenager reconvened to record this third
album and performed live together. With a title once
again sourced from the adventures of Pippi Longstocking,
a famous Swedish children’s book character created
by author Astrid Lindgren, En Aldeles Forferdelig
Sykdom, which translates as ‘an absolutely
terrible disease’, sees Spunk once again going
back to the drawing board and reinventing their music.
If the band still engage in strange sonic experimentations,
this album at times appears more accessible and melodic.
Yet this is not to say that Spunk have either mellowed
with age, or chosen an easier approach. Quite the opposite
in fact. If subtle layers of harmonised vocals sometimes
rise to soften the angular and chaotic sonic structures,
they only act as counterpoint to the broken phrases,
syncopated orchestral elements, screams and other vocal
noises that are scattered over this record. Here, Spunk
widen their original soundscapes even further, following
in some ways the approach developed by Ratkje’s
and Tafjord’s work as Fe-mail.
What is striking on this release, perhaps even more
so than on the band’s previous outputs, is the
sheer concentration of ideas and the consequent volume
of individual elements finding their way through each
track. It is often difficult to fully understand and
appreciate the scope of these compositions. Indeed,
the album requires a few listens to gain a proper idea
of what Spunk have to offer, but this initial effort
is utterly rewarding in time
4.6/5 |
