First release of the excellent Rune Grammofon label,
1-3 was a challenging record in more than one
way. As Veslefrekk, trumpeter Arve
Henriksen, keyboard player Ståle Storløkken
and drummer Jarle Vesepstad, three already established
jazz musicians in there own right, had only released
one album back in 1994. Yet, when they invited their
sound engineer, Helge Sten, better known as Deathprod,
to take part in a live improvisation during the 1997
Bergen Jazz Festival, it rapidly become obvious that
the band was destined for greater things. The fruit
of hours of improvisation in the studio, 1-3
was instantly hailed as a landmark record by a section
of the Norwegian press, while others were left bewildered;
one journalist even claiming it was the sickest record
he’d ever heard. Now re-released in brand new
packaging, characteristic of the minimal approach adopted
by Kim Hiorthøy on the 3 consequent albums released
by the band since, 1-3 is made available in
the UK for the first time.
Allegedly only meeting to play live and record, the
four Supersilent members never rehearse nor discuss
their music. Mixing hardcore noise processing, free
jazz, avant-rock and electro-acoustic, Supersilent’s
first outburst was definitely a unique record. Containing
thirteen tracks spread over the three parts of this
album, some lasting over twenty five minutes, with the
majority stretching between ten and fifteen minutes,
this first album is an impressive, if somehow daunting,
piece of work. Refusing to induce any preconception
about their music, Supersilent identify their compositions
with numbers. Resulting of over ten hours of total improvisation,
having be edited down to a mere three hours, eight minutes
and thirty seconds exactly, 1-3 presents a
variety of tones and ambiences, from the rough concussed
soundscapes of 1.3 to the soft, airy atmospherics
of 2.1, which give Arve
Henriksen's incredible trumpet playing its most
prominent space here, or 2.4. Subdued moments
however don’t last very long. At times perceptibly
regimented and at others entirely chaotic, this album
frustrates as much as it exhilarates. Nothing is obvious
or straightforward here. Moments of relative calm often
pre-empt more abrupt and ferocious constructions. Far
for the more introvert improvisations heard on 5
or to a certain extend on 6,
the tracks presented here all derive from a same vein.
Developing musical themes from deep atmospheric to incendiary
structures, Supersilent capture here the intensity of
their live performances. A relative new formation at
the time, they hadn’t yet entirely achieve the
level of musical coherence and personal symbiosis witnessed
on their later recordings and on the recent Midnight
Sun tour.
For a first release, 1-3 is definitely an impressive
piece of recording. The essence of Supersilent already
fuels these thirteen tracks unequivocally, constantly
challenging the listener with unsettling concepts. Even
for the more experienced listener, 1-3 remains
an uneasy album, constantly offering different angles
and shades as the band meticulously rejects all preconceived
ideas of improvised music to set their own rules. Typical
of the unashamedly diverse approach adopted by the majority
of contemporary Scandinavian musicians, Supersilent
set with this album the foundations for their later
work.
4.2/5 |
