Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns - Weejuns

November 8, 2023

Label: Rune Grammofon, 2023

Personnel - Hedvig Mollestad: guitar; Ståle Storløkken: Hammond organ, synths, continuum; Ole Mofjell: drums.

Weejuns is the product of a productive collaboration between Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad, keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, and drummer Ole Mofjell. In this improvised session, experimental ambient segments provide a platform for bold metal-inclined forays that gradually merge in a control manner. The potential for creative expression is vast, and the music, far from feeling one-dimensional, becomes increasingly audacious as it unfolds. The trio fearlessly embraces atonal elements, allowing their notes and timbres to mingle and intersect. Those familiar with Mollestad's work will notice a different approach, especially due to the instrumentation, while her trademark guitar sound remains consistent.

On “Go at Your Peril”, they cook up a tense, bluesy rock stew with limited motion and explorative activity. Unison arpeggiated lines signal a shift in intensity, announcing the forthcoming improvisation. “Come Monday” takes a more spectral approach, with both dial and vibing electronic sounds, while Mofjell’s drumming reverberates in the background. It’s a well-ventilated experiment, though not as accessible as the subsequent piece, “Hug That Tree”. The latter, assembled from various components, starts with refracted drums responding to codified synth patches and irregular streams of shattering guitar. Multiple frequencies create a psychedelic effect before an odd-metered guitar riff emerges, underpinning sinewy keyboard layouts. The texture undergoes changes, and the roles are reversed when the synth bassline holds the groove for a ferocious guitar improvisation.

“I’ll Give You Twenty One” introduces ominous clouds, reflecting the trio's somber side through persistent drones and languid, sustained tones. Later, cyclic riffery takes on a groovy form. “Stay at Your Peril” immerses the listeners in a state of ambiguity and contemplation before transitioning to a jazzier atmosphere that segues into a seven-beat arpeggiated chord progression. Muscular drumming and the keyboard’s lower notes infuse a rock sensibility by the end. The album concludes with the Satriani-like “Pity the City”, a more emotional and polished piece with an asymmetric time signature {8+9}. The bars are subsequently equipoised for the guitar solo.

Weejuns haunts from the first note to the last but may require time for its alternation of precise and open moves be fully absorbed. While not as explosive and immediate as Ekhidna (2020) and Tempest Revisited (2021), it’s more risk-taking and ruminative. There’s more to delve into, but it already comes with the stamp ‘recommended’.

Favorite Tracks:
03 - Hug That Tree ► 05 - Stay at Your Peril ► 06 - Pity the City

Hedvig Mollestad - Tempest Revisited

February 14, 2022

Label: Rune Grammofon, 2021

Personnel - Hedvig Mollestad: guitar, vocals, upright piano; Karl Hjalmar Nyberg: alto saxophone; Martin Myhre Olsen: soprano, alto and baritone saxophones; Peter Erik Vergeni: tenor saxophone, flute; Marte Eberson: vibraphone, synth; Trond Frønes; bass; Ivar Loe Bjørnstad: drum set, percussion + guest Per Oddvar Johansen: drum set (#1).

Norwegian guitarist and composer Hedvig Mollestad carved out a singular spot for herself in the creative music orb. For her new outing, Tempest Revisited, she sought inspiration from the avant-garde composer Arne Nordheim and his work The Tempest while celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Parken Culture House in her hometown, Aleslund. The disc, even not as ceiling-shaking as other adventures, comprises five mesmerizing excursions where a nearly telepathic understanding is established among the musicians involved.

“Sun On a Dark Sky” opens with a feathery flute, but you can feel the storm approaching from behind. Ritualistic chants increase the sense of feverishness while a guitar ostinato gives the piece a perceptible, clearer shape. The trio of saxophonists first go for lines of tranquility until a fusion-imbued 13-beat cycle makes them insert woozy lines. An asymmetric, odd-metered cycle is also spotted on “High Hair”, a prog-rock-like exertion with reeds and guitar working in tandem and an energy that will win you over.

Mollestad was gifted with a variety of sonic palettes to choose from, and “Winds Approaching” stresses that aspect by expertly blending styles. Following the initial percussion festivities with clapping and horn chants, there’s rock muscularity stemming from the heavy guitar, and then jazzy bass lines welcoming brilliant harmonic colors. The adaptable horn players match up their textural lines, occasionally dovetailing phrases and easing off their impetus according to the mood. Besides sax and guitar, this piece features a zig-zagging synth solo.

“Kittiwakes of Gusts” results in a cool mixture of hard rock and R&B, and the feel is all groovy and burning. The group embarks on seamless modulation, interchangeable saxophone impressions that later become tangled, and searing overdrive-infused guitar. In turn, “418 (Stairs in Storms)” combines ambient awe and gutsy riffery to create contrasting tones of sheer beauty. Delivered with iron-fisted discipline and controlled power, this edgy yet accessible Tempest Revisited resounds in the listener’s head with a sense of bewilderment and exuberance.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Sun On a Dark Sky ► 02 - Winds Approaching ►04 - 418 (Stairs in Storms)

Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Ding Dong You're Dead

April 28, 2021

Label: Rune Grammofon, 2021

Personnel - Hedvig Mollestad: guitar; Ellen Brekken: bass; Ivar Loe Bjørnstad: drums.

The powerhouse trio of Norwegian guitarist/composer Hedvig Mollestad is back with another set of hefty tunes professed with an irresistible full-fledged sonority and razor-sharp honesty. The incendiary guitarist forged a special musical partnership with bassist Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad, and their intense work has generated seven albums since 2009, the year of the group’s formation.

Unsurprisingly, the music in Ding Dong You’re Dead serves the tastes of contemporary jazz fans, indie rockers and metalheads alike, in a cross-genre format that hooks us in its acute moods.

With a vibe à-la Rage Against the Machine, Brekken’s “Leo Flash Return to the Underworld” is a detailed headbanger with odd-meter signatures and high-flying solos that spread freedom and fury. Prog-rock maniacs won’t be disappointed either, and it's easy to understand from the very first minute why this trio shaped up into something special.

The blues-based “All Flights Cancelled” storms off with a hard-rock energy that recalls Black Sabbath. The blues factor is shared with the ongoing vamp stressed on the indie-pop title track, which unfolds calmly and steadily with bowed bass at first, and then with transient crystal-clear harmonics followed by atmospheric synth-guitar melody.

If “Gimbal” fascinates with thick and dark guitar washes and chromatic power-chords allied to impeccable rhythmic variances, then “The Art of Being John Malkovich” pushes us into a muscular dance-rock experience that interlocks gut-punching backbeat and heedless bass lines. It’s craggy terrain that the trio explores here with gusto.

Different from the rest, but still compatible, the clamant “Magic Moshroom” is a hallucinogenic trip where we rock, swing and dance at the same time. A sheer unexpectedness is created by syncopated drums, impressive bass mobility and improvisatory avant guitar.

“Four Candles” concludes the album on a beautiful, pathos-laden note, appearing in the form of an alternative country-esque ballad graced by colorful jazzy chords and fine percussion.

Mollestad and her trio never stop to surprise and amaze.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Leo Flash Return to the Underworld ► 04 - Gimbal ► 07 - Four Candles

Hedvig Mollestad - Ekhidna

July 22, 2020

Label: Rune Grammofon, 2020

Personnel - Hedvig Mollestad: guitar; Susana Santos Silva: trumpet; Erland Slettevoll: keyboards; Marte Eberson: keyboards; Ole Mufjell: percussion; Torstein Lofthus: drums.

After yielding considerable attention with five trio outings, the dauntless Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad, an advocate of prog-rock and jazz-metal aesthetics, digs into six originals with a lot to like. Here she leads an investigative bass-less sextet with two keyboardists - Erland Slettevoll and Marte Eberson - and two percussionists - Ole Mufjell and drummer Torstein Lofthus, who find no problem handling muscular rhythmic grids. Rounding out the group is the inventive Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, whose improvisational prowess stands out in a couple of tracks.

Her trumpet is clearly heard on the less-than-two-minute opener “No Friends But The Mountains”, a meditation whose composure is not devoid of an intriguing sense of restlessness.

The abrasive guitar riff and vigorous rhythm inculcated in “A Stones Throw” can be compared to Pantera's “Cowboys From Hell”, even if they feel cooler in tone. This prog-metal section, fully charged with high-voltage currents, morphs into a more melodic passage - slow-paced and rich in texture - where the influence of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is irrefutable. Moments later, the group goes berserk again, stimulated by nervy synth explorations and a coercive driving force that hit us hard, attracting everything into its spinning vortex.

Lacing luxurious sonic landscapes reminiscent of Yes with the heavy-duty textures of Tool, “Antilone” is another conspicuous example of tremendous robustness. Mollestad brings in strident guitar looping, hefty riffing, fleshy power chords, and a shredding solo initially underpinned by pure percussion. That's before things get cathartic with rock-solid drumming and synth washes.

Compared to the previously described piece, “Sightly Lighter” feels like a plume, shaping as an atmospheric synth-guitar ballad, while “One Leaf Left” starts as a modal ambient reflection with subtle gradations, becoming weightier as it advances toward the fierce final shout. However, its ending is not as dark or concentrated as “Ekhidna”, a volatile procedure that alternates heavy patterns, anthemic rock momentum with fair doses of melodicism, and avant-prog texture. Silva contributes to the melodic consistency, but later leaps forward to discharge a cleverly intoned statement infested with throbbing syllabic rhythms over rich percussive playing. The final keyboard solo is absolutely stunning.

Ready to conquer the scene with refreshing, powerful music, Mollestad deserves all the attention she can get. And she damn rocks!