Hyperboreal Trio is the debut album of a promising new trio -Danish, Oslo-based alto sax player Signe Emmeluth, Norwegian, Trondheim-based double bass hero Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, who share a long history of collaboration across various projects (including in the Guts & Skins septet, Tigerfish & Lioncats trio, Jonas Cambien’s Maca Conu and Gard Nielsen’s Supersonic Orchestra), and Argentinian, Berlin-based drummer Axel Filip, who met Emmeluth and Flaten while studying at the NTNU Music Department in Trondheim, and produced the album. The album was recorded at Northern Studios in Trondheim in May 2023, after a short tour of the trio in Sweden and Norway.

The album’s title refers to the mythical people, the Hyperboreans, who were said to live in a far northern region of perpetual sunshine, beyond the god of the north wind. This trio’s music is shiny and hot, based on powerful and raw free improvisation, with a focus on instant yet thoughtful composition that enjoys the extensive experiences of the three strong-minded improvisers, who share a risk-taking approach.

Flatten and Filip have become a restless, propulsive rhythm section that keeps pushing Emmeluth’s sax flights. Each of the seven pieces sketches distinct timbral searches (check «Come Closer»), textures, atmospheres, and emotions, relying on the immediate affinity established during the trio’s performances. On «Pressurized WC», Emmeluth expands the rhythmic approach with fragmented but precise sax blows, and on «Ahuyentado» she introduces Ethio-jazz overtones.  The 13-minute «Wood» suggests a playful, story-like texture, articulated by three opinionated, restless, and eccentric characters. This fine album ends with the mysterious ballad «Capiango».

Eyal Hareuveni

Signe Emmeluth (alto saxophone), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (double-bass), Axel Filip (drums)