Search - In the Country :: This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat

In The Country - "This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat"

Audiostar | USA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Keyboardist Morten Qvenild is one of Norway's most valuable utility players. He is the "orchestra" in the incredible post-Björk duo Susanna and the magical orchestra, writer and arranger for jazz singer Solveig Slettahjell, former member of pop-prog-jazz instrumentalists Jaga Jazzist and Shining, and part of chart-topping supergroup the National Bank. Qvenild gets to display his piano-jazz chops with In The Country, featuring bassist Roger Arntzen and drummer Pål Hausken, and the trio's debut CD is a stunner.



From the jazz world, Qvenild cites Paul Bley and Norwegian free player Svein Finnerud as influences, from classical Olivier Messiaen and Morton Feldman. Qvenild also has a great ear for pop melodies: His gorgeous solo cover of Ryan Adams' woozy ballad "In my time of Need", played with almost no extrapolation on the theme, renders the song a pure lullaby. Qvenild's mixture of jazz phrasing, classical sensibilities and love of songcraft leads In The Country through 11 songs that rarely rise above a whisper but carry the emotional power of a screaming stack of Marshall amps.



The album is so focused that the tracks work together like a suite, but individual highlights abound. "Bever Creek" starts as a meditation and builds to something like slow-motion free jazz before returning to the gentle melody. "How to get Acquainted" rumbles through sublimely measured tension that, when released, feels like a giant hook in a pop song. "Viggo" features Hausken's haunted wail, singing wordlessly with the melody. The CD closes with Handel's reverential lament "Laschia Ch'io Pianga", played by Qvenild on a Casio SK-10, simultaneously post-modern and classic, just like the rest of the album.""