.

I haven't made a little volume in a while.

More pictures at the Sticky Pages site.

.

Into CD two - the larger ensemble pieces - & there's even more to rave about: track 5 - 'wildheart' (5:44) which does indeed open the valves with a gradual build of piano, drums & Mette's overblowing; track 13 - 'I' (8:09) that begins with sinister Kurtag-like slicing string chords out of which comes a searching sax solo as the drums & bass slip into - what? oh my goodness! - a recognisable cool jazz groove ... at 5:48 it could be Charlie Mingus & then as suddenly she cuts away & the strings return ... 6:53 & back into the groove ... Godard film circa 1968 ... with a deliberate pastiche arpeggio flourish to end? The penultimate track 19 - 'behold' (0:59) - a Messiaen haiku of piano & strings? 

& there's plenty more. 

It's obvious she has talent to burn & there's also a sense that the music is only part of a wider aesthetic. 

This is special. 

Hello again.

There's been a lull in posting but plenty has been going on (been to Venice, for starters).

This afternoon, however, the old routine of a visit to the Mediatheque resumes & my hand - as if guided - falls upon this double CD which, as such, has no name.

.

Looking at the picture of Mette I wondered whether she was another of Garbarek's daughters (something about the eyebrows?) but it seems she stems from Sami stock. I'm listening to the CD right now - track 12 'the lost one' is just beginning.

So far so utterly compelling. Kurtag-length miniatures (& an educated guess would be he's at least one of the influences upon her work) which are focused on similarly small scale textures & shifts. CD one is a trio of sax, piano & violin. CD two has a larger ensemble. I'd imagine she lets rip a bit more on this. Or maybe not.

To put it another way, CD one bears the title O. CD two has the monophthongal close mid-front rounded vowel O (the one with the slash through it which I can't write in Blogger). You could say that the entire aesthetic of the album is embodied in this slight/sleight of tongue & hovering between presence & absence. (There's one for Pseud's Corner). 

Back in the early Nineties I remember loving Stina Nordenstam's debut album Memories of a Colour & there's something of that atmosphere here. - wow! track 14 'I do' - a lovely passage around 3 minutes in - ... . Ur ECM music of course & it is unlikely, I imagine, that if late Coltrane & Peter Brotzmann power playing is your idea of jazz saxophone you'll enjoy this.

Needless to say, I do.

Beautiful music.