Lampen, photo: Rosario Multari
You don't need to be a strictly 1-genre-only monogamous listener to get this. In fact the more promiscuous your listening habits are the better. Two years on from their similarly engrossing self-titled debut Lampen the duo are back next month with Halogen. There's a track from this their upcoming album entitled 'Soleil du Sud 2' streaming which features in today's marlbank playlist. We had a listen earlier to the full album. It's up there with some of the finest go-ahead Eurojazz 2.0 this year. Therefore a word or two on what to expect and why we appreciate it. Firstly a few words of introduction. The band are from Finland. Part of their knack and sheer creativity is you'd think the recording was the work of far more people given how expansive and fattened out the sound is. Guitarist Kalle Kalima and percussionist/sampler Tatu Rönkkö (Efterklang, Liima) are the bods. It certainly sounds jazz relatable - certain chord changes for sure point this out - but it's also a bit electronica in spirit if not full execution - and one or two Americana type blues-rock licks even intervene. Thankfully there are no beats in the sense of clubby or electronic music repetitiveness or fake cres./dim. story arcs at all to poison the well. It's far more organic and loose.
Mercifully immersive
Sometimes I think of Bill Frisell a bit when Kalima goes more introspective. But on the title track of this studio set recorded in Berlin for instance Frisell would never play like he does there - it's just too bravura. And yet immediately afterwards 'Buttons' is more in the Frisell domain. Kalima has written 6 of the tracks, the remaining three are co-writes. A record to chill out over and witness as you listen some masterly flow and a subtle moving on from idea to idea while the pair keep a sense of flow and momentum going at all times develops.
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