Artist: Frode Gjerstad
Album: Time Sound Shape
Label: PNL Records
Year Of Release: 2022
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Tracklist:
1. Time Sound Shape 48:59
“At first glance this new CD on PNL looks like familiar territory – a trio recording with two known collaborators of Nilssen-Love: Accordionist Kalle Moberg have become a steady and important voice of the Large Unit sound over the last ten years, and Frode Gjerstad truly needs no introduction – him and Nilssen-Love have played together for 30+ years. And while this trio is a new constellation, a combination that is good news in itself, “Time Sound Shape” offers another, bigger surprise: this is the first album where Nilssen-Love does not play any drums. The set-up instead is seven gongs – which are prepared and played with a selection of objects, like Styrofoam, Ping-Pong balls, and sheets of paper. Gjerstad also adds the alto flute to his more commonly used Bb clarinet and alto saxophone. The album was recorded in Gamle Aker Kirke in Oslo, a 900-year-old church from the Middle Ages that has a very distinct acoustic character. This location, in combination with the instrumentation, and the fact that the three musicians were getting together after a year of not playing because of the lockdown, creates a very unusual album in the PNL catalogue. The music is often slow moving and transparent, with explosive and bombastic passages, held together with a subtle and intense undercurrent that drives everything forward throughout its 49 minutes.”
