With each successive outing -- first 2011ʼs Anthem followed by their
raucous RareNoiseRecords debut, 2013ʼs
InterStatic -- the potent Norway-based trio of expatriate Brit organist Roy
Powell, Norwegian guitarist Jacob Young and Norwegian drummer Jarle Vespestad
has upped the ante on intensity and audaciousness while arriving at a nexus
where rock organically meets jazz. Now the powerhouse unit has reached a new
level with 2014ʼs
superb Arise.
Together
these three complementary voices create an organ/guitar trio for the 21st
century. "The chemistry between the band members is what it always
was," says principal composer Powell. "Itʼs three strong-willed,
opinionated people working together to make the best music we can. We have
regular discussions and disagreements but thankfully few fist fights. And
although I write the majority of the material, it is constantly being honed by
the group, which is why live work is so important."
Fueled
by the remarkably flexible drummer Vespestad (known for his work with Tord
Gustavsen, Silje Nergaard, Supersilent, and Farmers Market), Arise shifts
nimbly from grungy anthems like "Doozy Mugwump Blues" and
"Alexa" to intricate numbers like "Caerbannog" (named after
the cave protected by the killer rabbit in the absurdly comedic 1975 film Monty
Python and the Holy Grail) to the swinging "Alpha Dog." Powellʼs "Frankʼll Fix It," full of
challenging stop-time phrases, is dedicated to one of his major influences,
Frank Zappa. "I was lucky enough to be introduced to the music of Zappa
and Miles Davis at exactly the same time when I was 13 years old hanging with
my hip pen-pal´s family in Germany in ´79," he recalls. "I heard
Bitches Brew and Roxy & Elsewhere and my mind opened up and remained that
way as I searched for those recordings and others by Frank and Miles when I got
back to the UK. I listen regularly to Zappa to this day and probably will never
stop, just like I have been reading William S.Burroughs for 30 years and still
find profound truths in his work."
Powellʼs dynamic "Wonderfall"
carries the influence of the pioneering fusion band Lifetime featuring UK
guitar hero John McLaughlin and Newark, New Jersey-based organist Larry Young.
"I was never drawn to the Jimmy Smith organ trio sound from his Blue Note
Records days in the early ʻ60s,"
says Powell. "It was only when listening to Larry Young that organ became
a serious interest for me and as I grew up listening to
jazz-rock, the whole idea of being locked into a previous eraʼs aesthetic did not appeal.
Instead, I loved the sense of freedom and risk-taking that I heard on Lifetimeʼs Emergency!"
For the
outstanding, genre-bending guitarist Jacob Young, Arise represents a complete
departure from his more pristine outings as a leader on the ECM label. His
unhinged wah-wah and distortion solos throughout Arise provide the some of the
most explosive moments on this very audacious trio outing. "InterStatic is
entirely a different kind of group and differs from my ECM outings in several
ways," says the Oslo-based guitarist.
"On my ECM albums we strive for a cleaner, more natural acoustic sound on
each instrument. InterStatic is sound-wise almost an opposite to my ECM group.
I love both ways of working with improvised music.
Young,
Powell and Vespested represent a powerful triumvirate on their third record
together overall and second for RareNoise Records. "We have developed a
deep respect for each other over the course of our three albums," says
Young. "We are three different guys that happen to play some music
together, sometimes we have a blast doing it too. Sometimes we disagree, and we
can discuss angles of maybe a mix or a tempo or a certain way of how to play a
tune, but we have headroom to handle this. In a way, we have learned to deal
with each otherʼ
s quirks, strengths and moods and we get good at reading each other in the
process."
"Open-mindedness
should be a pre-requisite of all musicians so we just play whatever we feel
like," adds Powell, who also plays organ in the RareNoise group Naked
Truth. "At the time of our first release, Anthem, we were mixing the
repertoire of a modern jazz organ trio with no distorted sounds with some more
rock sounds. We took this further on InterStatic and now on Arise the gloves are off. We get a real kick out of
performing the more intricate compositions to audiences as nothing beats some
well coordinated weirdness together with some heavy grooving and soloing!"
All of
those elements come together in righteous fashion on Arise, InterStaticʼ s most thunderous and
freewheeling outing to date.
Musicians: Ray Powell (Hammond Organ), Jacob Young (Electric Guitar), Jarle Vespestad (Drums)
Tracks: Doozy
Mugwump Blues / Caerbannog / Alpha
Dog / Iwato / Frank'll
Fix It / In The
Beginning / Doozy
(Reprise)
Arise is available on August 4, 2014 through Rare Noise Records.
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