fucking good LP ! ( alternative rock, experimental, jazz)
Fire! is where Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums) go to stretch their instrumental skills and collaborate with prestigious guests like Jim O’Rourke and Oren Ambarchi.
Fire! Orchestra takes the project to the next level: a sonic behemoth comprising 28 members from Swedish jazz, improv and avant rock that should be unmanageable,but turns out to possess the elegance and lucidity of the righteous free jazz big bands of the past. Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra. Carla Bley’s “Escalator Over the Hill”. Centipede. Sun Ra’s “Space Is The Place”. Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath. Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu’s “Sing Me A Song Of Songmy”. All these classic landmarks come to mind as you listen to their monumental “Exit!”.
“Exit!” was recorded in front of an over enthusiastic audience in January 2012 at the headquarters of Fylkingen, the legendary Stockholm avant garde music centre.
But before you go thinking this is an impenetrable free jazz meltdown, listen again. “Exit!” follows in these mighty footprints, but it’s also an odyssey that takes its own route, with post-rock/krautrock diversions along the way. There is a way in to “Exit!”, and the way out is clearly signposted. Fire! is all about burning up tradition and blazing new paths and fresh approaches in improvised music – approaches informed equally by garage punk, electroacoustics and the noise of heavy industry.
Throughout both long halves of “Exit!”, Mariam Wallentin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums) and Sofia Jernberg chant ritualistic lyrics written by Arnold de Boer of Dutch avant rock institution, The Ex.
Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape, The Tiny) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacebirds) follow that mighty Oren Ambarchi hook-up by working with an ambitious 28-piece ensemble drawn from Swedish jazz, improv and avant rock echelons. The Fire! Orchestra comprises at least 3 guitarists, 4 bassists, 4 drummers, brass, woodwind, a trio of vocalists, plus electronics and keys – basically a proper free jazz big band in the lineage of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, Centipede, Sun Ra, to play a striking, refreshingly modern take on that sound, balancing lucid electro -acoustics and refined minimalism with stunning post-rock crescendos, and loosely defined jazz strategy. Recorded at the HQ of Fylkingen, Stockholm’s legendary avant garde music centre,…
…Exit! manifests two extended pieces breaking down to kaleidoscopic elements over the course of each part, whether its soaring vocals powered by krautrock rhythms and squally blow-outs or icy, desolate vocals rendered in widescreen electro-acoustics seceding to slamming garage punk dynamics and the sort of extended vocal techniques associated with Maja Ratkje, thanks to Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg. We safely say it’s a successful accomplishment, and yet another example of Fire!’s incredible shape-shifting abilities and stylistic freedom.
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