Keep The Coordinates
When We Let Go
Traveler
New Constellations
Chgangeable
In Public
Amputation
Waltz
Amplify Me
Og så gikk eg meg vill igjen
Falkevik is a trio made up of Julie Falkevik Tungevåg (piano and vocals),
Ellen Brekken on bass and Marius Trøan Hansen on drums with David
Aleksander Sjølie on the Marxophone on the last track. The Norwegian
group’s second album follows its premiere CD, Louder Than I’m Used To, which was very well received by the
European press. The trio’s metier is a kind of nexus between jazz and pop
which is enhanced by the use of electronica to generate riffs and rhythmic
patterns that move from the piano outwards. Their latest album pushes the
limits enthusiastically.
The songs are written in English and sung by pianist Julie Falkevik
Tungevåg. Maybe, to get some hold on their style, it’s helpful to position
them somewhere between EST and The Bad Plus, though obviously their relish
for songs puts them at a slight remove from both these powerhouse trios.
It’s also true that whilst the bass and drums are in no way subservient to
the piano – all generate locked grooves throughout – Falkevik is not really
the kind of thrash trio that The Bad Plus is, sometimes at least. So,
there’s a more regular drum pulse form the young Norwegian trio allied to
those pristine vocals that allow the group to stand within and without
those other trio traditions.
But the piano patterns on When We Let Go are strongly reminiscent
of EST, and its attractive theme possesses both sonic punch and deft,
refined piano stylings and overdubs. There’s a lot going on in these
pieces. Traveler has some limpid, rather romantic piano and no
vocal whilst the title track has some stabbing piano articulation and
unexpected repeating motifs, cleverly subverting expectations. This group
really knows how to set loose some catchy grooves, as Changeable
shows. Here the overdubs and obvious pop sensibility offer something fresh
and attractive, proving the trio never keeps still, is always looking for
ways of saying attractive things within the medium.
They solve the problem of predictability in In Public by
infiltrating little distortions in the piano over a regular pulse and in Amputation encouraging a pounding bass in the instrument which
mixes with Tungevåg’s vocals; here the increase in amplitude really is The
Bad Plus territory. By contrast Waltz with its staccati and
halting articulation is magnified by the use of what I think is the
Wurlitzer, though she also plays a Prophet on the album, and it could be
that as well. There’s something Steve Reich-like about the
electronica-repeat of Amplify Me but they seem more themselves on
the last track, which is the only one sung in their native language and
which, with its plangent chords, evokes the deep folkloric traditions of
their country in a limpid, cool, slow wash.
The piano trio is a defining ensemble of the last twenty or so years and
Scandinavian ensembles are amongst its leading practitioners. Falkevik is a
pluralist group, stylistically open to a range of influences, not tied to a
single direction. Give them a try.
Jonathan Woolf