Hedvig Mollestad – Weejuns (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Hedvig Mollestad – Weejuns (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:19:42 minutes | 879 MB | Genre: Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rune Grammofon

After seven albums spearheading Hedvig Mollestad Trio (still very much active!) and three solo albums, the guitarist is here introducing a brand new, exciting trio while breaking some new ground in the process. Ståle Storløkken (keys) is known from Supersilent and Elephant9, while Ole Mofjell (drums) is part of a young generation making waves on the European improscenes. Weejuns is a solid step into shimmering, hardcore improvisation and breathtaking instrumental interplay, echoing The Tony Williams Lifetime, Henry Cow, Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Supersilent and 73-74 period King Crimson.

Thus it makes perfect sense that this exhilarating new trio’s debut is a double live album, with four tracks recorded at the new Munch Museum in Oslo, and one track each from Blå in Oslo and Spor5 in Stavanger. Prepare to be dazzled!

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Hedvig Mollestad – Tempest Revisited (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Hedvig Mollestad – Tempest Revisited (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:54 minutes | 433 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rune Grammofon

Hedvig Mollestad must surely be one of the hardest working musicians on the Norwegian music scene at the moment, with “Tempest Revisited” being her third album in a mere 18 months, all at a consistently high artistic level. Her first solo album, “Ekhidna” (2020), received a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy), appeared on several jazz and rock best of the year lists and got her into Downbeat´s “25 for the future” selection. “Tempest Revisited” draws lines back to 1998 and the very beginning of Rune Grammofon. This was the year we released “Electric”, the collected electronic works of Arne Nordheim, one of Norway´s greatest composers. It was also the year when parts of “The Tempest”, possibly his most cherished and well-known work, was chosen to be performed at the opening of Parken, the new cultural house in Ålesund, birthplace of Hedvig Mollestad. To celebrate 20 years, the culture house was ready for a new storm, and the first name that came to them was Hedvig, a local artist that was already making waves on the international scene with her power-trio. Hedvig took inspiration from the front of the house, adorned with Nordheim´s score for “The Tempest”, at the same time making a direct connection to the sometime heavy weather conditions of this coastal area in the northwest part of Norway. One could say it´s a big paradox that over all this might be Hedvig´s most lyrical and less aggressive collection of music. On the other hand it´s quite a dynamic record, lots of light and shade and enough sonic parts at work to evoke the elements, the mighty Gran Cassa drum only one of them. The music included here was adapted from the initial performance in 2018 and produced by Hedvig in the studio the following year for this album release. The musicians included are old friends Marte Eberson from the Ekhidna band, Ivar Loe Bjørnstad from her trio and Trond Frønes (Red Kite) on bass as well as a horn section of three.
Yet another triumph in a more than impressive discography.

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Hedvig Mollestad – Ekhidna (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Hedvig Mollestad – Ekhidna (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:19 minutes | 432 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rune Grammofon

Widely praised from Rolling Stone to Downbeat, Mojo to Wire and Jazzwise; electrifying guitarist Hedvig Mollestad hits us with a multifaceted and dynamic progressive jazzrock monster high on fierce riffs, rich textures, vibrant solos and strong melody lines.

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Hedvig Mollestad – Maternity Beat (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Hedvig Mollestad – Maternity Beat (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:19 minutes | 696 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rune Grammofon

Hedvig Mollestad’s music changed direction with 2020’s Ekhidna, a conceptual offering about the Greek goddess. While she didn’t end her longstanding trio, she put it on recording hiatus. 2021’s Tempest Revisited had roots in a 2018 live performance commemorating the 25th anniversary of composer Arne Nordheim’s world renown ballet, Tempest. Maternity Beat is a suite commissioned by and debuted at Molde Jazz Festival in July 2020 and livestreamed across Europe. This studio recording was made in collaboration with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Also conceptual, its themes reflect her recent experiences in motherhood, and offer meditations on the pressing social, political, economic, and climate issues affecting mothers, children, and family. In addition to TJO, Mollestad employs longtime drummer Torstein Lofthus and vocalists Mai Elise Solberg and Ingebjorg Loe Bornstadt. (This is the first time she’s used singers.) In addition to playing her trademark exploratory guitar, she composed and arranged the work. “On the Horizon, Pt. 1” offers a subdued drone intro before the singers, in layered harmony, ask repeatedly, “Is there a boat on the horizon?” Strings, winds, and reeds offer an elliptical backdrop as the singers layer harmonies and counterpoint. The second part commences with a knotty Mollestad guitar vamp framed by Lofthus’s dancing cymbals and snare. Reeds, brass, and winds fold in just before the wordless chorus enters. Petter Kraft’s reverbed soprano sax solo prefigures Mollestad’s own. As the tune wanders, it recalls Grand Wazoo-era Frank Zappa. “Do Re Mi Ma Ma” is offered as a noir-ish jazz-blues led by a walking bassline and adorned with Mollestad’s fluid lines. It explodes into a rhapsodic crescendo of horns, winds, and saxes, then mutates into wild jazz-rock-fusion games. “Donna Ovis Peppa” balances Mollestad’s notions of jazz harmony in a rhythmically dazzling approach that delves into nocturnal electric funk and incendiary electric jazz drama. Mollestad’s playing is forceful, authoritative, and usually assonant, no matter the complexity. The interplay with TJO is unshakeable and often surprising. The title-track closer commences with fingerpicked ambient guitars and floating keys that give way to angular winds, horns, reeds, and drums before the layers commingle in lilting reverie. Its second half is raucous metallic. Introduced by power chords and pummeling drums and bass, TJO enters inside a minute and creates a pulsing, deep-grooving meld of jazz and classical harmony amid the blazing hard rock and soaring choral vocals. Closer “Maternity Beat Suite” offers four sections, each more frenetic and tonally ambitious than its predecessor, with ample room to solo among the ensemble members. Mollestad’s guitar playing is as inspired as it is musically sophisticated. In short, Maternity Beat is a collaborative wonder and the most important album in either Mollestad’s or TJO’s catalogs. Together, they sustain the concept with stellar execution and enviable focus. They simultaneously impart joy, drama, and intensity with inspiration, remarkable technique, and sheer grit. – Thom Jurek

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