The third album from the
Mats Eilertsen Trio -- the members are credited separately on the cover, but this is the same trio that recorded
Elegy and
Sails Set for Hubro -- is their debut for ECM, although none of the three is a stranger to the label.
Eilertsen has played as a sideman in numerous projects for the label; his debut as leader was 2016's
Rubicon, on which
Fraanje also appeared.
Strønen, too, is a veteran of multiple ECM combos, most recently his own
Time Is a Blind Guide. As a trio, their music is graceful and unhurried. Throughout,
Eilertsen leads from the back, his muscular, searching playing pushing the music ever forward.
Fraanje shows he is a pianist of supreme quality, while
Strønen's wildly inventive percussion attracts the attention; never playing quite on the beat, he throws in accents and grace notes on unusual instruments one would not normally expect to find in a trap set. "22" starts the album with an amazing, airy lightness, a sweet melody on the keys floating over woody bass which mirrors the piano line before beginning to thrum softly but incessantly alongside skittering, brushed drums. "Perpetum" begins with temple bowl, gong, and bowed cymbal which, combined with
Eilertsen's high arco bass notes, create a Japonesque atmosphere that's not "jazz" in any recognizable sense and in fact, has more in common with sound artist
David Toop's later releases. About halfway through, sparse piano notes, plucked bass tones, rimshots, and ethnic percussion add splashes of color. The title track starts as a fairly free improvisation with a choppy, offbeat rhythm that sounds almost as though the instruments are stumbling over one another. Toward the end it comes together with something of a bluesy, juke joint feel before disintegrating again like
Fats Waller's band is dismantling the drum kit and packing up. Elsewhere, there are moments of otherworldly beauty, with a searching quality mostly driven by
Fraanje's exceptional pianism. The wonderfully melodic topline of "Albatross" suggests both pop and classical influences. "Solace" is wide open and full of space -- its twinkling arpeggios like tiny birds soaring upwards in a shaft of sunlight inside a great cathedral. "Soften" has one of the album's loveliest melodic figures with a filmic, traveling quality, as though one is cycling across a long bridge with the sun-sparkling waters of a bay far below. This is a beautiful, beguiling album with an almost spiritual grace, from three players at the top of their game. Highly recommended. ~ John D. Buchanan