Oddarrang

“Cathedral”

(Texicalli Records TEXCD115)

Oddarrang are a Finnish quintet led by Olavi Louhivuori (born 1981), best known as a drummer but also, as this album shows a more than competent keyboard player. Louhivuori has appeared on the pages of this site before through his work with Norwegian bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen and as a member of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko’s quintet. He has also worked with influential Americans such as pianist Marilyn Crispell and multi reeds player Anthony Braxton plus a host of Finland’s leading jazz musicians among them trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and pianist Alexi Tuomarila. In 2008 he released the entirely solo album “Inhale, Exhale”. Full details of Louhivuori’s extensive discography can be found at http://www.olavilouhivuori.com

“Cathedral”, released on the Finnish Texicalli label is the long awaited follow up to the group’s award winning début “Music Illustrated” (2007). This garnered the annual Finnish Emma-prize for best jazz album and secured the group an international following as they played a series of major European jazz festivals including Paris, Glasgow, the 12 Points Festival in Dublin and Jazzahead in Bremen. They have also accrued a considerable following in Japan where they have toured extensively.

Oddarrang’s music fits very loosely into the jazz framework. Their cinematic sound (“Music Illustrated” was an apt and perceptive title) takes in elements of folk, modern classical and some of the more adventurous strands of rock from old time prog to the serious post-modern. There is little conventional jazz soloing, Oddarrang are more concerned with colour, texture and nuance, their pieces are brooding but often beautiful Nordic soundscapes, a Finnish variation on the sounds pioneered by Norwegians such as trumpeters Nils Petter Molvaer and Arve Henriksen, guitarist Terje Rypdal and the father of it all saxophonist Jan Garbarek. 

Joining Louhivuori on this sonic adventure are Osmo Ikonen (cello, voice, church organ), Ilmari Pohjola (trombone, noise, voice), Lasse Sakara (acoustic and electric guitars) and Lasse Lindgren (acoustic and electric bass plus synthesisers). With Louhivuori also playing synths there is a subtle electronic element permeating through the group’s work leading to their music sometimes being compared to the Icelandic post rock band Sigur Ros. The press release also makes the obligatory reference to Bjork but the resemblance is less obvious.

Given the presence of low register instruments such as cello and trombone in the line up it is perhaps not so surprising that the music often has a sense of melancholy beauty. Opener “Prayer” develops from flashes of Morse code via Louhivuori’s sombre, almost glacial piano and Sakara’s acoustic guitar, at times almost sounding like the Finnish folk instrument the kantele. Pohjola’s long trombone lines fulfil the role Molvaer’s trumpet might take elsewhere. With subtle electronics and wordless voices also carefully stitched into the fabric of the piece this is a highly atmospheric beginning, the emphasis on the overall sound rather than individual virtuosity and with a superb blend of the electronic and human elements.

“Third Life” sees Louhivuori move to the drum kit, his broken beats the foil to Pohjola’s breathy, long lined trombone-again very trumpet like. Ikomen’s cello weaves in and out around an insistent acoustic guitar vamp and once again there’s a subtle electronic undertow. The overall impression is of a kind of highly sophisticated chill out music.

“Canon” opens with an exquisite acoustic guitar and bass duet with trombonist Pohjola subsequently joining Sakara and Lindgren. The fragile mood is thus continued with Louhivuori’s drumming here, as elsewhere, completely egoless. He serves his material selflessly and it would probably be fair to say (in a good way) that it’s his composing and arranging skills that catch the ear rather than his drumming, indeed on two tracks there are no drums at all.

The shimmering “Arcane Light” is particularly atmospheric with it’s icy electric guitar glissandos
and the almost impossibly deep booming of Pohjola’s trombone allied to the melancholy tones of Ikonen’s cello. I’ve never been to Finland but this conjures up all the old clichés of tundras and forests-but again in a good way.

The Lengthy “Frames” adds a rock element to the group’s atmospherics courtesy of Sakara’s sustain heavy electric guitar- he sounds a little like Andreas Hourdakis from ex E.S.T. drummer Magnus Ostrom’s group. In fact this whole piece has something of the “updated prog” feel that both Ostrom and his former E.S.T.  colleague Dan Berglund bring to their solo projects. In the context of “Cathedral” the piece offers a welcome injection of pace with Louhivuori driving things powerfully from the back. Sure there are plenty of atmospherics too in a more studied second half with Pohjola once more to the fore but overall the context is refreshingly different. 

“Psalm No. 3” is a charming miniature featuring the unusual combination of cello and trombone above Sakara’s gentle acoustic guitar chording and with Louhivuori in a supporting role at the piano. Again, egoless.

Although Louhivuori has written all the music thus far he leaves the next two pieces to other members of the band. “Funeral”, by Ikonen opens with suitably solemn church organ played by the composer. This becomes more grandiose before eventually fading away to be replaced by the deeply resonant sound of the cello. Abrasive guitar and crashing drums bring things to a climax before a gentle, almost pretty trombone coda.

Bassist Lindgren’s “Holy Mountain” also features the composer on synthesisers. It’s a curious piece, almost minimalistic, but one that builds incrementally towards a kind of epic grandeur, sometimes gradually falling away before climbing once more.

Ikonen’s classical sounding solo cello introduces the closing piece “In Oamok”, later joined by guitar and bass and then the rest of the group in a rousing central section before falling away to a long wispy coda interlaced with electronica.

“Cathedral” (presumably as in “Cathedral of Sound”) is a far cry from being an orthodox jazz record and those reared on swing will probably reject it instantly. I rather liked it, Oddarrang’s carefully sculpted music touches many bases and should appeal to fans of the ECM record label in particular. The focus is on sound and atmosphere and the music should also find an audience with fans of Radio 3’s “Late Junction” programme. I notice that Fiona Talkington played “Prayer” as part of the programme transmitted on 19th January 2012.

With artists such as Louhivuori, Tuomarila, Verneri Pohjola and pianist Iiro Rantala coming to international attention Finnish jazz seems to be entering into something of a golden age as Finnish jazz musicians start to win the kind of respect regularly accorded to Swedes, Danes and particularly Norwegians. Oddarrang’s electro acoustic blurring of the boundaries is an excellent example of contemporary Scandinavian music.

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