FOOD (ECM)

This Is Not a Miracle

The first collaborations between percussionist Thomas Strønen and saxophonist Iain Ballamy go back to the 1990s and Norway’s icy progressive music scene. Since then, as Food, they’ve released a string of obscurelabel collections, often featuring contributions from guest musicians. Their sound, beat-driven and moody, suspends Bellamy’s thoughtful saxophones high above Strønen’s dense and colorful percussion collages. This Is Not a Miracle is a sleeker document than their 2010 ECM-label debut Quiet Inlet, which was a mostly laid-back affair. The tracks on the new disc, all in the three-to-five minute range, make a fuller embrace of electronica, holding more groove, more bass push, and more melodic accessibility than the earlier recordings, while still keeping a chill, engaging edge. This is Scandinavian house music, as cool as the next Danish celebrity chef and equally expert in presentation. On the opener, “First Sorrow,” guest guitarist Christian Fennesz introduces himself against a glistening backdrop of electronic and acoustic percussion, with chords that echo a distant bandsaw ripping into wood. “Where Dry Desert Ends” is dance-floor stuff, complete with a fist-pumping theme. The title tune is a shuffle through a bad neighborhood, Fennesz’s guitar the stray dog growling down its alleys. The almost seven-minute “Earthly Carriage” is a creepy slow jam haunted by soprano sax. “Sinking Gardens of Babylon” is liquid with shimmering guitar chords. Sweet? Yes, and not with empty calories. — Bill Kohlhaase