This is not the first time that Jordsjø and Breidablik have released an album together, as back in 2016 there was ‘Songs From The Northern Wasteland’, but that featured multiple songs from each band. This time around each band has a side to themselves for just one long piece, in each case titled “Kontraster”. The other main difference between the two albums is that when the first was released, Breidablik was very much a solo project from keyboard player Morten Birkeland Nielsen, but in recent years he brought in firstly Hakon Oftung (guitar, flute) from Jordsjø to play on 2020’s ‘Omicron’, and then drummer Trond Gjellum to also play on 2022’s ‘Alduorka’ so it is this trio on Side B while Hakon also provides keyboards and vocals on Side A and is of course joined by drummer Kristian Frland.
It was only recently that I raved over Jordsjø’s latest release, ‘Pestkrønikene’, and yet again I find I am taken back in time to the heyday of commercial progressive rock and the early to mid-Seventies. It is relaxed, inviting, and again feels very analogue and one is never sure if we are going to spend more time in the realms of folk or symphonic, and while some could argue that it is all about Oftung and his skills as a multi-instrumentalist, the playing of Frland takes it to a whole new level and there are times when he remind me of Bill Bruford, at others Neal Peart. At 20 minutes in length I think this is the longest track recorded by the duo, and it will be interesting to see if they repeat the experiment as this if fascinating throughout and never overstays its welcome as it is comprised of so many individual sections.
Even though Oftung plays on both sides, his role under Nielsen is very different indeed, as one would expect from working with an electronics wizard who has long been influenced by Tangerine Dream and for whom working on lengthy pieces is nothing new. Although I enjoy electronic music as much as the next proghead, for some reason I had not come across Breidablik prior to this joint release, but now I have I can see I am going to have to investigate further as this is highly polished and dramatic. Again, this never feels as if it is something modern but feels as if it is coming to us from the end of the Seventies when electronic bands were starting to make their presence felt and one can certainly imagine this forming part of a film soundtrack, especially if we were following reindeer in the snow across mountains and valleys. At least that is what I “see” while listening to this.
Overall this is a great introduction to both bands and highly recommended for progheads who wish the last 50 years had not taken place.
