It has been a good year for fans of Bugge Wesseltoft. First solo bliss on Be Am and now duo dynamism resumes with old mucker producer boffin Henrik Schwarz as the pair get their mojo going again.
As was - back in 2011
Very much an über Gott und die Welt kind of record rather than uber as in 'taxi!' an open ended conversation that takes in a whole lot. By all means take a trip to a prog clubby electronica destination. Kinetic keyboardism is one major element but the whole thing is more than the sum of its parts and production is ace. Not so pushed on the vocals on 'Eye For an Eye' or the twinkling windmills of your mind conveyed on 'One Two' but such carping doesn't matter too much because the better bits dwarf the fluffier passages. The clubbiness of 'Basstorious', I guess a cunning pun on bass and at a pinch Pastorius as in Jaco, shoot me if not (other oriousnesses are available), is far better the weather report here prevailingly sunshine and showers. That track features agile trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky who sounds quite designery here. And yet that is a mortal danger that the album teeters with because in that uxorious bonfire of the vanities there be dragons. No one wants a coffee table kind of outcome after all.
Fear not that doesn't happen although everything glistens and sonic good taste reigns. The strings on 'Duolism Two Two' again are fantastically recorded and could be on a pop record. So - an album easy to admire. And if you have very hi-end audio kit then even better, trebles all round. Because the whole thing has Rolls-Royce sound and will be enhanced listening on your very best kit or failing that heard over a clean PA at a small restaurant type venue. Duo II is out on 25 October. Bugge Wesseltoft as a member of Rymden plays the London Jazz Festival on 12 November
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