1982
Pintura
HUBROCD2510/HUBROLP3510
Hubro Music 2011
08 Tracks. 34mins32secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

If all three members of 1982 come from somewhat diverse backgrounds, their common interest in improvised music and, in the case of Nils Økland and Sigbjørn Apeland especially, taste for traditional Nordic folk music makes it a very intriguing formation. Together with drummer Øyvind Skarbø, Økland and Apeland have, with 1982, formed one of the most unconventional improv groups around. Using traditional Hardanger fiddle (Økland), harmonium and Wurlitzer (Apeland) and drums (Skarbø), 1982 work from openly folk-inspired basic structures, but they rapidly expand beyond these to create music which is truly unique and original.

Following a first album released under their three names and entitled 1982, published on NORCD almost four years ago, Pintura (the Spanish word for ‘Painting’, a name inspired by a visit that Skarbø made to the Foundation Miró in Barcelona), was entirely improvised and recorded over just one session at the end of 2010. As the trio continuously move from sections influenced by traditional Norwegian music to more angular rhythmic pieces and delicate and haunting harmonium-led sequences, they weave a beautifully epic, yet incredibly detailed soundtrack articulated around eight untitled pieces. Following two utterly delightful dreamy miniature pieces which swell and contract almost imperceptibly through their respective courses, the first relying primarily on Økland, the second on Apeland, the trio cast a more potent and intricate piece with the ten-and-a-half minute sprawling narrative of the third improv, which seems as if split into tiny movements, led in turn by Økland, Apeland and Skarbø. Later on, track five sees the trio collate once again a series of ideas into one piece, but there is much more of a consistent progression here, first focused on fiddle and harmonium, with just hints of brushes in the background, then, as the piece becomes much livelier in its second half, relying on all three instruments in equal dose, slowly gaining momentum until it collapses entirely.

On the fourth piece, the trio, led by Apeland, who swaps for a moment the celestial tones of harmonium for the much earthier ones of the Wurlitzer, drift much closer to free jazz forms, and this is taken further later on on track seven as they step away from the largely delicate and ethereal themes which forms the core of this album to investigate much more abrupt and at times somewhat dissonant soundscapes and ambiences. Track six and eight by contrast are much more introspective, the former taking the shape of a fluid drone which barely covers clouds of recorded voices in the background, while the latter is based around a series of gentle chords over which a recurring fiddle folk motif gently ebbs and flows until the end.

Despite clocking a little shy of thirty-five minutes, Pintura appears somewhat epic, its seemingly fragile set up often developed into much sturdier structures. It is in part this continuous shift between ethereal pieces and rawer improv which give this record its balance, but it is ultimately the unique correlation between instruments on one side and musicians on the other which binds it together.

4.3/5

1982 | Hubro Music
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM