«Gloss» is the third album of the Danish-Norwegian power trio Yes Deer. The title reflects a conscious effort to wrap the powerful, punk-free jazz aesthetics in a shiny layer of sonic gloss. Yes Deer worked this time with experienced Danish producer Jens Benz, who recorded the music and did the mixing.
Yes Deer sounds better than ever. The trio – Danish, Sweden based sax player Signe Lykkebo Dahlgreen, Norwegian guitarist Karl Bjorå and Danish drummer Anders Vestergaard – has been working and touring almost non-stop since 2011. The hard-hitting, cacophonous sound of a trio that went ballistic in dense, small-rooms has shifted towards a more varied and open approach, still intense and with healthy doses of aggression.
«Gloss» lasts only 36 minutes and offers five pieces. Bjorå sounds as assimilating distorted blues lines of Sonny Sharrock into his own vocabulary, Vestergaard pounds his drum-set as if he is hammering a tunnel to China and Dahlgreen rapid, machine-gun-like blows still pierce the skies. But Yes Deer allows itself now to develop its ecstatic, possesed interplay in an organic manner and not to push it from the first second until the last one.
The opening, title song already suggests new soulful veins and the new spacious, big sound, . «Marry or Hang» even relies on a loose punk song structure, raw, fast and up-in-your-face. «Dry Specimens Pinning» introduces an open interplay that often charges its psychedelic-fusion terrains with potent steroids. Bjorå channels «Peacock» into a dirty-swampy blues delta, beautifully matched by soulful cries of Dahlgreen and the loose pulse of Vestergaard. «Spit Shine» demonstrates best the telepathic interplay of Dahlgreen, Bjorå and Vestergaard, nuanced and surgical, explosive but full of flesh, intense and passionate.
Heavy, addictive stuff. Do yourselves a favor and grab «Gloss» limited-edition white vinyl while it lasts.
Eyal Hareuveni
Signe Dahlgreen (s), Karl Bjorå (g), Anders Vestergaard (dr)
