Label: Clean Feed Records, 2021
Personnel - Jonas Cambien: piano, organ (#6,11), soprano saxophone (#4); Andre Roligheten: alto and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet; Andreas Wildhagen: drums.
Jonas Cambien, a classical-trained Belgian pianist living in Oslo, formed his resourceful trio - with Norwegian musicians Andre Roligheten on reeds and Andreas Wildhagen on drums - in 2016, the same year they made their recording debut with A Zoology of the Future. Their third breakthrough, Nature Hath Painted the Body, was recently made available on Clean Feed Records and comes packed with capable arrangements that allow for free interplay, biting tones, rhythmic tautness, and a thrilling intersection of angles, shapes and colors.
A warped 33-second introduction leads us to “1000000 Happy Locusts”, an exultant dance of curiosity and discovery, working as a heady blend of folk, avant-garde and classical that spread throughout its structural sections. Cambien shows how dynamic his piano playing can be when combining two concurrent melodic threads in his solo recital. He’s later joined by Roligheten’s soprano curlicues and punchy accents.
The reedist doesn’t eschew melody on the infectiously percussive “Harrieschoppers”, and even adds a bit of flutter tonguing technique on the bass clarinet to go along with the mechanical flux delivered by piano and drums.
Whereas “Mantis” sports a groovy piano pattern and galloping percussion at the base of its folk storytelling, “The Origins of Tool Use” takes the world music into an abstract realm, boasting not just a primitive Afro atmosphere generated by prepared piano, but also a frisky posture achieved by brazen organ as well as popping and chanting woodwinds.
Contrasting with the mercurial shifts on “Freeze”, which plays with hushes and outbursts, “Yoyo Helmut” has this danceable rock-fueled rhythm going on, all along.
The album concludes with “Helium”, whose manifest organ progression finds Roligheten on the edge of pitch, prior to Wildhagen’s anticipation of the three time feel that ensues. At that time, the bass clarinet tracks the crisp path of the piano, supporting simultaneous saxophones lines.
It’s stimulating what Cambien proposes in this album.
Grade B+
Favorite Tracks:
02 - 1000000 Happy Locusts ► 03 - Harrieschoppers ► 11 - Helium