Two more albums explored and enjoyed in recent days. We listen to hundreds of albums, we make no apologies for choosing to cherry pick and only covering the best of what we encounter, we don’t have time to write about the average albums, we don’t have the time or space for the albums or bands that don’t really excite us, we don’t have time to write half-hearted reviews or fill our space with things, with bands, with music, with art that we don’t feel that excited about, here’s a couple of albums we do feel like posting about…

Mari Kvien Brunvoll and Stein Urheim with Moskus – Barefoot in Bryophyte (Hubro) – It does sound playful, never in a throwaway way though, playful doesn’t mean a lack of depth, there’s a beautiful set of creative interactions here and yes, exceptional chemistry, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Stein Urheim along with the three members of Moskus take “another step into uncharted musical territory”, the result is this rather intriguing album Barefoot in Bryophyte.

The members of this quintet are frequent figures in terms of the large Hubro discography but had not played together before this project. The collaboration began as the commissioned work Branches and Limits for Voss Jazz Festival in 2023.  Anja Lauvdal, Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, and Hans Hulbækmo are the members of Moskus. Over the past decade, they have established themselves as a formidable force in the Norwegian jazz scene. “They approach music with a distinctive signature of infectious playfulness, genre-blind blending, and defiant experimental will. With one foot in the tradition and one in the future, with continuity as a key word, they have released seven albums, received five Spellemann nominations, and left a significant mark on the music scene over the past decade”.

I’m not hearing something that is just for jazzheads here, yes there is a jazz feel, jazz is just one of the many flavours that make up an album that is delightfully difficult to pin down. Bits of brightly coloured folk, jaunty prog rock, easy listening, dream pop, if it a jazz album then it a very easy on the ear jazz album, not simple, it sounds clever, complex yet always easy on the ear, always delightful, always upbeat, creamy. Barefoot almost feels like a compilation album, each piece has a character of its own, right now were onto a seven minute instrumental piece called Yellow Flower that really sounds like clever high-end improvised jazz, actually instrumental until half way through when once again the direction changes, before that it was a dreamy vocal piece that sounds like it might be from a 50’s romantic film soundtrack, yet the album does hang together as one whole, it does make sense, it does work. Barefoot in Bryophyte is a delight of an album – So Low is brilliant high, Colors goes to yet another place is a rather positive way – just a really enjoyable, really engaging rather different album. Recommended.   

Find the details on Bandcamp or via Hubro‘s website

Nick Pynn – Visions/Revisions and Impressions (self release) – Nick Pynn performs original compositions on violin, mandocello, steel-string guitar, lap dulcimer, theremin, 5-string banjo and wine glasses, whilst live-looping and bass-pedalling with his feet. He has also performed with many diverse artists- Arthur Brown, Steve Harley, Kate Daisy Grant, Mike Heron, Beverley Martyn, B*Witched, Rich Hall, Stewart Lee and more, he’s hitting just the right spot this glorious Summer Sunday evening with his rather beautiful pieces. An album of short simple uncluttered tunes, mostly instrumental, an excellent song or two, always warm and inviting, delightfully so and once again the task of putting together words about his works rather then just sitting here enjoying them without having to try and explain why. I really don’t want to have to try and explain why, just delightfully beautiful pieces that hint at folk, at English folk maybe, at chamber music, classical composition, some of it with a Sea Nymphs feel maybe (we mean that as high praise), a crafted singer song writer and simple yes but more in terms of the listening, they sound like very clever constructions, deep compositions, the simplicity really is in the listening, the simple delight of it all, the places he takes you, the emporium of light, bright uplifting tunes, songs, words and interpretations of 19th Century paintings that really do sound like they are. A gorgeous album, a highly recommended album, an album you really should make time for and explore properly and thankfully, you can just go and listen for yourselves, magical treasure, a lot of people try to do things like this, not many can… Bandcamp / Website