Barefoot in Bryophyte

Already a fan, I was lucky enough to see the first public outing of this project in Voss Jazz Festival in Norway last year. Brunvoll, even back in her student days in Bergen, was drawing wide attention to her solo voice and electronics project, and since then her work with Urheim has uncovered further musical adventures. I first heard the piano trio Moskus (Anja Lauvdal, Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, and Hans Hulbækmo) when they were just about to graduate from the Trondheim Conservatoire and, seven albums later (including this one), their intriguing creative curiosity is still at full tilt. True to the cavern of delights which revealed itself in concert last year, the album tumbles riotously from one idea to another, lilting and frolicsome. Hulbækmo’s mischievous sounds, from drums to recorders, cascade through lyrical voices and Lauvdal’s piano adventures. There are whistles and zithers, tabla and cello too. Together they’re a fairground attraction beckoning us into mysterious places, turning musical worlds irresistibly upside down.