Borrowed Tunes - original article

CD REVIEW
In The Country: This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat
By BORROWED TUNES


The latest on our favorite Norwegian experimental label, Rune Grammofon records (doesn't that sound so sophisticated?), is contemplative piano trio music courtesy of Morten Quenvild, who I know better as Susanna's "magical orchestra" on Borrowed Tunes' #10 record of 2004. He's also in Shining, reviewed here earlier.

The style is nominally jazz - certainly the instrumentation and approach come straight from the modern jazz tradition - but this is not frenzied improvisation, and the harmonies are stark and come from a variety of sources. The music generally moves at a glacial pace. It's often beautiful, often barely noticeable, and occasionally splinters into a more abstract, dissonant mode to recapture your attention. You wonder if Quenvild is a better composer and producer than piano player until he proves himself worthy in tiny bursts.

There's also a Ryan Adams cover, which I'm not going to even attempt to understand.

Anyway, why am I even writing this? The excellent blog The Suburbs Are Killing Us has done a better job already, including an interview with Quenvild and 3 tracks. Go there now.
 

Published : 13.05.2005