Four years have passed since the last album of the Norwegian power trio led by guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen, with bassist Ellen Brakken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad, but the eighth album of this trio, Bees In The Bonnet, proves that it has not lost its edge. In between and since the seventh album of the trio, Ding Dong. You’re Dead (Rune Grammofon, 2021), Mollestad Thomassen was busy with ambitious projects – Tempest Revisited (Rune Grammofon, 2021, with Bjørnstad), Maternity Beat with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra (Rune Grammofon, 2022), the improv trio Weejuns (Rune Grammofon, 2023, with keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and drummer Ole Mofjell), composing new music for a screening of the experimental silent Brazilian movie Limité (1931), performing with Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn, Colin Stetson, Ingrid Laubrock in the 2023 edition of Molde Jazz festival, and recording an album with the quartet Cortex.
Bees In The Bonnet packs invigorating and intense 37 minutes with heavy killer riffs, pyrotechnical prog-rock à la Mahavishnu Orchestra, psychedelia, and free jazz improvisations, relying on the trio’s telepathic interplay, its nuanced sonority, and its irresistible, uplifting drive. Or as Mollestad Thomasasen puts it: «bite, fury, joy, frustration, fear, and all those big feelings processed through heavy riffs and beats». This self-produced album was recorded at Amber Tone studio in Oslo in October 2024.
The opening piece, «See See Bop», hits straight at this trio’s essence and celebrates an intoxicating, heavy Led Zeppelin-tinged riff that forces you to rise and move your limbs involuntarily. The complex structure of «Golden Griffin», with its searing guitar solo and effects, pays respect to Mollestad Thomassen’s seminal guitar gods – John McLaughlin and Terje Rypdal. «Itta» opts for a more raw, tribal pulse, but leaves more space for Mollestad Thomassen to develop her guitar solo. «Bob’s Your Giddy Aunt» is a loose, free jazz improvisation that expands the trio’s timbral spectrum and slowly gravitates towards simple yet massive riffs. The delicate, sparse ballad «Lamament» is dedicated to Mollestad Thomassen’s father, the catalyst of her musical passion, and honors the trio’s tradition of playing one ballad on each album. The album ends with the ecstatic, prog-rock «Apocalypse Now», sounding like a perfect antidote to our current apocalyptic times, and distills the trio’s qualities – joyful, manic energy, tight interplay, fascinating solos, and tons of fun.
Eyal Hareuveni
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen (guitar), Ellen Brekken (bass), Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (drums)
