Maridalen

★★★★ Maridalen JAZZLAND. CD/DL/LP

Norwegian trio’s minimalist, beatless debut; an album with few precedents.

RECORDED IN a picturesque wooden church near the old stone ruins of St Margaretakirken, Maridalen’s debut speaks powerfully of its scenic surroundings. Field recordings of rushing water and birdsong detail the opening Koral, its spare harmony given texture by Anders Hefre’s intimately breathy baritone sax. The similarly sedate Blir Det Regn I Dag, Tru? allows Jonas Kilmork Vemøy’s trumpet to lead us on a yearning journey through their surrounds, while Inga and Vals Fra Bjølsen – both jaunty waltzes by Maridalen’s stately standards – are held down by Andreas Rødland Haga’s sasquatch double bass stomp. At once modern and sepia-toned, Maridalen is an immersive lowend dreamworld that distils distant Nordic jazz variants (Nils Petter Molvaer, Bernt Rosengren, Lars Gullin) into a singular vision. It acts like a powerful sedative, washing blues away.