The Norwegian, Haugesund-based Action & Tension & Space quartet – guitarists Per Steinar Lie (of Lumen Drones and The Low Frequency in Stereo) and Øystein Braut (of Electric Eye), bassist Julius Lind, and drummer Ørjan Haaland (also of Lumen Drones and The Low Frequency in Stereo) – plays an impossible, instrumental mix of spaced-out lounge rock, folk music, jazzy surf, psychedlia, free improvised chill-out, jangly post-rock, drone, and walking bass.
For its fifth album, New Dimensions, the quartet invited, again, two esteemed musicians who are always happy to join an adventurous musical journey – keyboard player Sigbjørn Apeland and percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg, who have played on Action & Tension & Space’s previous album, Tellus (Rune Grammofon, 2022). The album was recorded far from Action & Tension & Space’s home base, at Chaka Khan Studio in Oslo.
The six pieces are still based on infectious grooves and smart guitar hooks that solidify Action & Tension & Space’s chilled-out, hypnotic drive, but in a richer, layered form. The opening piece «Folkemusikk fra Kvala» flirts with the lush, sensual vibe of Ethio-Jazz, emphasized by Apeland’s vintage Fender Rhodes, and proves that Action & Tension & Space is always at its best when it flexes its musical muscles. The following pieces experiment with hypnotic, tribal dance pulse on «Worms»; cover late bassist Bjørnar Andresen’s psychedlic prog-rock classic «Champagne of Course» (from the legendary debut and only album of the Min Bul trio, with young guitarist Terje Rypdal and drummer Espen Rud, Polydor, 1970); and cook juicy, meditative drones «Asteroidebeltet» and «Above the Condor» that reference the spaced-out jams of Grateful Dead.
New Dimensions is too compact for suggesting a life-changing spiritual trip, but its powerful, infectious drive buys you a precious distraction from the current harsh global reality. Sometimes it is more than enough.
Eyal Hareuveni
Per Steinar Lie (lap-steel, electric guitar), Øystein Braut (guitar, organ, mellotron), Julius Lind (bass), Ørjan Haaland (drums), Sigbjørn Apeland (harmonium, Fender Rhodes), Ståle Liavik Solberg (percussion)
