Arrival of the New Elders

Chronique

In 2019, Norway's Elephant9 issued two scorching double-live albums in Psychedelic Backfire I and II. The trio, keyboardist Stale Storløkken, electric bassist and guitarist Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen, and drummer Torstein Lofthus -- joined by Dungen guitarist Reine Fiske on the second volume -- soared through selections from their studio catalog. With the appearance of Arrival of the New Elders, those records become a summation; Elephant9 had taken their exploratory meld of high-energy vanguard jazz-rock as far as they could.
Arrival of the New Elders, recorded in an Oslo studio during September 2020, offers a sharp contrast in musical direction. These eight tunes offer a more through-composed but still experimental strategy using less-strident tempos and abrupt dynamic shifts, and more space, texture, and harmony amid group interplay. They are less a jazz-rock jam band than a canny electric jazz trio. Storløkken plays mostly Rhodes piano and Hammond B-3 organ here, but selectively employs synths, Mellotron, and a grand piano. The rhythm section offers nuanced, interrogatory grooves as ballast. The opening title track commences with a kosmische vibe as Storløkken registers ostinato runs on his synth before moving to Rhodes and B-3. He states a subtle, mysterious melody, accented by shimmering snare breaks, a guidepost bassline, and acoustic guitars. Though the bandmembers don't break a sweat, they probe and uncover at a simmer, moving outward, then circling back during the amorphous chorus before the pianist delivers a gloriously intuitive Rhodes solo. Introduced by the rhythm section, "Rite of Ascension" is more outwardly rockist. Its droning vamp is constantly punctuated by dirty, distorted Rhodes runs, rumbling basslines, and constantly rolling drums as the intensity increases. In places it recalls the garage-prog attack of Soft Machine on Third. While shorter pieces such as "Sojourn" and "Tales of Secrets" offer more laid-back song-like articulations, they remain inquisitive and satisfying in their off-major use of harmony and economy. "Throughout the Worlds" commences with a Rhodes vamp. Amid hushed accompaniment from bass and drums, Storløkken improvises along the harmonic throughline on the Hammond, creating shard-like openings for Eilertsen to exploit before moving afield (and he does) with a spiraling piano solo framed by single-line synth washes. The elusive intro to "Chasing the Hidden" could be mistaken for mid-period Weather Report, until the trio falls off the ledge into noisy, angular, mutant funk. Arriving just before closer "Solar Song," "Chemical Boogie" is the set's unruly outlier. It crisscrosses prog rock and early electric jazz by melding the trio's own wildly idiosyncratic harmonic approach to post-bop, early prog, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, and '70s cop show soundtracks. It's a jagged yet compulsively listenable groove jam made truly wonderful by Lofthus' inventive drumming. Arrival of the New Elders may be an aesthetic aside for Elephant9. Given the wonderfully nebulous alien sounds on offer here, it will hopefully serve as the entryway to an expansive musical approach the trio are only just beginning to articulate. Either way, it's nothing less than compelling.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo