Katarsis4, Live At The Underground Water Reservoir

There is something a little creepy about an album recorded live at an underground reservoir. What possessed a saxophone quartet (and an audience lurking there too) to venture down the Liepkalnis near Vilnius in the autumn of 2019 is the obvious …

Published: 2 Jan 2021. Updated: 3 years.

There is something a little creepy about an album recorded live at an underground reservoir. What possessed a saxophone quartet (and an audience lurking there too) to venture down the Liepkalnis near Vilnius in the autumn of 2019 is the obvious question. Something to do with the extraordinary acoustics, perhaps. Certainly the record has an extremely arresting sound. Minimalist in nature, actually very soft and velvety, the sound waves slowly curl around the space sometimes providing a gentle wash, sometimes by harsh contrast the sensation of a highly controlled caustic burn that might tear at your ears as a hidden creature from the depths might attempt roaring up alarmingly at you. The Katarsis4 manage to use the space to their advantage and these two long pieces that each have a dramatic background quality to them won me over in the end with their elegiac questing that isn't one bit creepy as it turns out. A more naturalistic endeavour this side of recording inside the belly of a whale you'd be very hard-pushed to track down.

On NoBusiness.

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Rymden, Live in Umeå

Since the demise of e.s.t. nothing has ever come close among projects put together by surviving bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström. Let's be frank, eh. That is until Rymden came along and raised the bar with Bugge Wesseltoft joining. …

Published: 1 Jan 2021. Updated: 3 years.

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Since the demise of e.s.t. nothing has ever come close among projects put together by surviving bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström. Let's be frank, eh. That is until Rymden came along and raised the bar with Bugge Wesseltoft joining. Space Sailors reviewed back in the early autumn certainly had plenty of swagger and oomph. This live affair recorded in Sweden dates back to 2019 (in the titling there seems to be a bit of dithering about which preposition to plump for, we've gone for the ''in'' from the artwork) and its centrepiece is 'Bergen'. Definitely go there first.

Rymden is far proggier than e.s.t. ever were although that is no barrier just more about the ''new'' band's own character and is on one level more of a techhead band than the history making trio ever were. And yet the freedom of unfettered improvisation is core to the Rymden approach and you know that when Wesseltoft breaks loose. He, make no mistake, has his tender side and you certainly get that on 'Bergen' on which Öström chops up the beat like a scientist. I'm not mad keen on the way the audience sound is recorded but that's not a huge issue. Rymden are already an agenda setting band. They're high up on my list of bands to see before I croak it.

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