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BNB
ein song frå dei utsungne stunder
2L (www.2L.no)
Spare and jazzy, experimental without being noisy, the music of Norwegian trio BNB is a smooth yet challenging listen. Berit Opheim's gleaming soprano is the centerpiece but never steals the show. Nils Økland has a broad expressive range on fiddle, hardanger, and viola d'amore. Bjørn Kjellemyr's bass work is thoughtful and melodic.
The music has a careful, pensive quality that never really breaks loose. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather it brings a laser-like focus to the tensile strength of this trio's abilities. "Ser dui et hjarte langs vinden," a song by Jon Fosse from which the CD's title is derived, starts out as thin and sharp as icicles, with high vocals and shards of fiddle. A drony slapping bass enters gradually and rumbles in the background. Kjellemyr gets his moment in the sun on the improvisatory solo rhapsody "Galgea." Økland's solo on "Erindring" is tender, melancholy, and so subtle that it nearly fades into the air. In the moody "{Frekk i} dvale," Opheim sings an expansive wide-ranged line over Kjellemyr's growling, scratchy bass and Økland's folky double-stops. "Paulista" is a bass and fiddle duet - an atonal conversation between the swooping bass and elegiac fiddle. Subtle but not insubstantial, ein song frå dei utsungne stunder shines with the clear definition of light sent through a prism. - Peggy Latkovich
CD available from cdRoots
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