Norwegian guitarist Stian Larsen is known as an energetic and highly inventive improviser in the local free, genre-defying scene. He has collaborated before with British alto sax player Colin Webster (in the KTHXBYE trio, with Norwegian drummer Brage Tørmænen, released by Webster’s label, Raw Tonk, 2016) and in a trio with Webster and drummer Andrew Lisle (Zeal And Perseverance and Problem Of Absolute, 2019 and 2021, released by Larsen’s Va Fongool). Webster and Lisle collaborated on countless projects, including four duo albums.

Temple of Muses adds to the trio of Larsen, Webster, and Lisle, Italian, London-based electric bassist Ruth Goller, and the album was recorded at Snorkel Studios in London in April 2022. Goller has not recorded before with the three improvisers.

The album is titled after the 20-minute centerpiece that altered the high-energy dynamics into a more patient and sparse one, but eventually reaching a hard-hitting and playful climax. But it still captures the ecstatic essence of the quartet – raw and immediate, fast and brutal sonic collisions that blur the distinction between Webster and Lisle’as fiery and soulful free jazz, Larsen’s noise guitar, and Goller’s post-rock. Goller integrates organically into this kind of fearless and intense dynamics that find liberation in exciting, cathartic terrains. The album ends with «Vivid Aspects» which begins, again, with a sparse, slow-cooking interplay that introduces some of the extended techniques of the four improvisers but aims for similar merciless, volcanic collision. Looking forward to the evolution of this great quartet.

Eyal Hareuveni

Stian Larsen (guitar), Colin Webster (alto saxophone), Ruth Goller (bass), Andrew Lisle (drums)