Label: Trost Records, 2023
Personnel - Sofia Jernberg: voice; Mats Gustafsson: baritone saxophone, flutes, electronics; Kjetil Møster: clarinet, tenor saxophone, electronics; Anders Hana: baritone and bass guitars, langeleik; Børge Fjordheim: drums.
The apocalyptic North European post-jazz-rock outfit, The End, released its third album, Why Do You Mourn, a collection of seven eerie contemporary pieces that fuse dark and mystic sounds with style-defying personality.
“Snow” inaugurates this peculiar excursion with a gloomy, suspenseful underpinning empowered by Anders Hana’s nebulous baritone guitar. The gnarly vocals of Sofia Jernberg and the saxophones of Mats Gustafsson and Kjetil Møster go nearly arm in arm; the scintillating drum work of Børge Fjordheim adopts a phlegmatic talkative vein at this point, becoming more ferocious over the following 12-bar heavy-rock vamp that sustains a clamorous tenor solo. After a sudden break, we wake up in another sonic world via a calm folk-infused passage driven by langeleik, a droned Norwegian zither. This gives the piece a sort of medieval, Eastern-tinged quality.
“Doomfunk MCs” is pelted with blasts of baritone guitar, saxophone multiphonics, atmospheric electronics, and petrifying horror-induced vocals. Despite the darkness, it will take you to a serenely composed landscape at the end. Totally divergent, “Winter Doesn’t End” comes immersed in world music erudition with langeleik and flute at the center.
“Wasted Blame” takes the form of an elliptical dance with noise guitar at the base and enthusiastic horn unisons atop. Jernberg’s vocals arrive by the end, accompanied by wailful baritone sax winds. On occasion, the saxophonists steal the show, but the vocalist excels on “Whose Face”, a doom metal anthem in the guise of a common tune with particularly discernible melody and harmony. The drummer displaces the rhythm flow, taking the guitarist with him at some point, and then comes a powerful, agonizing tenor improvisation by Møster.
The album comes to an end with the simmering “Black Vivaldi Sonata”, a surprising incursion into R&B with a menacing guitar drone, disconcerting beat, and multi-layered vocalization. Ending with electronic clatter, this would have given another great funk hit for Prince to sing.
Playful on one side, inexorably severe on the other, The End’s experimentation here don’t surpass those of the previous albums. Yet, if you like your music pummeled with staggering revelations and sinister sensations, then this is a disc you should try.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Snow ► 03 - Wasted Blame ► 05 - Whose Face