Without looking at the press release I had it in my mind that these guys were probably Norwegian, little did I know they were somewhat closer to home and are an English group comprising Martin Archer (Bb and bass clarinets, sopranino saxophone, flute, bagpipe chanter, recorders, organ, melodica, harmonicas, iPad, glockenspiel, tuning forks, small percussion, loops and delays), Jan Todd (electric Harp-E, cross strung harp, bowed psaltery, tagelharpa, hulusi flutes, waterphones, Idiopan, voice, electronics, electronic samples, found sounds, looping, field recordings), Fran Comyn (snare and floor toms, cymbals frame drums, tam tam and small gongs, tabla, doumbek, bells, orchestral chimes, stir drum and shakers) and Richard Jackson (four piece kit, rototoms, cymbals, slot drum, small percussion). Given that cornucopia of instrumentation this is obviously a studio album, isn’t it? Nope, what we have here are two complete performances (one from 2023 and one from 2025), each broken into two pieces, the shortest of the four still being more than 35 minutes long.
Improvised music can take many forms, and it is not unusual for some bands to just plug in and see where they end up, but in this case Fjall has a stated aim of wanting to create soundscapes rooted in folk and ceremonial music. They combine this with field recordings material drawn from the sounds of the natural world and it makes for a very strange mix indeed, which is incredibly visual. There is a small section where we hear waves pounding on a beach, with crows in the distance, and it is intensely visual, with the quartet ensuring the music being created highlights that. It feels far more like a film for the ears, a soundtrack to our imagination being taken on a journey, than it does a group of musicians casting a spell on the audience. That one can hear total silence during the performance is not at all surprising given the intensity, and I can imagine many closed their eyes, so they had no distractions with the music being the only thing that mattered.
Martin runs Discus Music and must be praised for not only releasing some wonderful material but also the care given to the packaging. This double CD release feels sumptuous, with very high-quality printing, and is a joy to open and hold, incredibly tactile in the way album covers used to be. This is one of my favourite releases from the label yet, and if you want music which takes your ears on a journey then look no further.
