Record Reviews

LIV HANNE HAUGEN ~ KEMEDU LOSEN 141 (Barcode: 7090025831416) ~ NORWAY ~ Jazz-Rock-World Fusion Recorded: 2015 Released: 2015 This is the debut album by Norwegian vocalist Liv Hanne HaugenFind albums by this artist, recorded with Norwegian trombonist Oystein BlixFind albums by this artist and two French musicians: keyboardist Thierry GiraultFind albums by this artist and guitarist Alain KawczakFind albums by this artist. Kristian Svalestad OlstadFind albums by this artist, who served as the recording engineer, guests on two tracks playing percussion. The album comprises of eleven tracks, nine of which are originals composed by the participating musicians with lyrics by Haugen. The other two tracks are traditional Sami yoik songs. Haugen, heavily influenced by the culture of the Arctic Sami people and their yoik vocal tradition, emerges as a highly original vocalist, freely merging distant musical idioms, which encompass Jazz, Alternative Rock and World Music. The resulting music played by the group is bold, innovative and very unique, which is pretty unusual these days, where individuality and experimentation become obsolete. The music is quite diverse, moving between melodic, ambient and improvised parts. The unusual instrumentation, with the trombone as a lead instrument, adds to the mystique and the wonderful weirdness which prevails over this music. But Haugen´s vocals are the most dominant factor which makes this music so wonderfully bizarre. She completely disregards any conventions whatsoever, using her voice to sing, howl, screech, scream, yell and whisper, whatever seems appropriate at a particular moment. Her wordless vocalese is hauntingly beautiful and extremely powerful. When all these factors are combined and intertwined into a tapestry of sounds, the result is simply overwhelming. This music grows on the listener very persistently and I personally had a hard tie taking the CD out of my player after listening to it repeatedly several times in a row. What a magical experience! Happy International Women´s Day to you Liv! This is definitely the boldest and most surprising album I have heard so far from the LosenFind albums on this label Records catalogue, and I have to salute the label´s owner Odd GjelsnesFind albums by this artist for his courage and vision that made him release this highly unusual, farsighted and non commercial music, against all odds. We need more culture loving people like you Odd!

Updated: 08/03/2016Posted: 08/03/2016

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