TEIP Trio comes from the vibrant free-improv scene in Trondheim with an unconventional lineup and distinct sound – two guitarists – Arne Bredesen and Nicolas Leirtrø (who plays with Bredesen in the earth moon transit quintet and of I Like To Sleep Trio) who plays on baritone guitar and the clarinetist Jens-Jonas Francis Roberts. This trio experiments on its debut album with dissonance, harmony and timbre, contrasting the heavily processed guitars with the acoustic clarinet. The album was recorded at Øra Studio in Trondheim and released by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s Sonic Transimissions Records.

The TEIP Trio mentions the explosiveness of Mats Gustafsson, the sonic refinement of Stian Westerhus, the abstract electroacoustic textures of Supersilent and even the early seminal ECM albums of Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal as sources of inspiration. But the three young musicians sound like their own, inquisitive and uncompromising, with a coherent sonic vision and unique dynamics that stress elusive melodic veins through nuanced tension and conflict.

The album features eight improvisations – «Takes» – all developed patiently with a focus on detail and open interplay. Often, the woody, dark sound of Francis Roberts brings to mind another influential ECM musician, John Surman, especially in his solo album, and he usually suggests lyrical melodic ideas. Bredesen and Leirtrø, juggle and subvert these ideas with thorny, open-ended comments. Together, these «Takes» accumulate into mysterious and suggestive, cinematic textures.

Eyal Hareuveni 

Jens-Jonas Francis Roberts (cl), Arne Bredesen (g), Nicolas Leirtrø (bar.g)