Good music from January
Table of contents:
New releases
THQ and Veslemøy Narvesen's music hold a special place in my heart. It's hard to understate its position in my heart, as their first releases was among the music that made me pursue an education in music. I can almost certainly point to their albums (and concerts same year) as the catalyst for my aha-moment of "what the hell am I doing, I need to pursue music". Naturally, this has led to a lot of excitement for their follow up-releases.
All in all, I'm very contempt. While I definitely prefer the more acoustic, band-esque style of Veslemøys previous record, I'm not disappointed with the production of Letting All Light Through. It's different, but it's still undoubtedly Veslemøy, especially the melodies and harmonies. They still carry the same language, but now with a different dialect.
My one critique has to be with how the album very often sticks to the same base elements. Most of the songs carry the same timbral structures, especially with the use of the closely micced upright piano. I'm also missing more of the cool drum parts and instrumental parts that were so prominent on her first record, not to mention Norwegian lyrics. A friend of mine summed everything up very well when saying that on the first album, you'd just sit down at listen to everything from beginning to end no matter what. On this one, it's not hard to skip a track or two.
Tuva did not disappoint. It's very obvious that the band has developed themselves, both as individuals and playing together. Tracks like Acquaintances and Reconnection make a bold statement that really challenges the idea of her music as "mountain jazz" or "nordic jazz" that it's also called. There's also just a stunning quality and clarity to the recording that's hard to describe with words - it simply has to be experiences. Just take notice of how good Gard sounds - and also, how Gard got his own solo track on the record!
This album does however suffer from a lot of the same buildups and same motivic developments. While it's very easy to distinguish the aforementioned Reconnection or Sorryrow from the other songs, it's not as obvious with Longyear or Confusion Illusion. Don't get me wrong, they're both great songs - but the AABA-esque "exposition - repeat theme - play a B theme that's higher in pitch and more intense - A section that calms down a bit before solos begin"-form can easily get stale after a few listens, especially if the motifs and themes used in the compositions carry similar traits.
For both artists, I've heard most of the music performed live earlier. Getting to re-hear these songs in a studio setting has been very pleasing, and I'm glad to finally get to hear them again whenever I want to. I very much recommend both of the albums, and especially Tuva's "Reconnection".
Oh, and obviously, check out both of their previous records. They're just pure amazing.
Old releases
- Chico Buarque - Chico Buarque
- Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza
- Joyce - Feminina
- Selma French - No Sign of Rotten Leaves
As always, I seem to be unable to "move past" Brazilian music, which I view as a great thing both as it is the greatest music and as I need to expose myself to as much Brazilian Portuguese as possible for my moving there in a few weeks. This month I've been spending a lot of time with these three records. The only real change from past months, is that I've also revisited Esperanza (who I'm very sad that I won't be able to catch live at Moldejazz this year).
I'm still listening a lot to Selma French. I've sort of entered a rotation between her and Joyce (and often also Joni) for the go-to music to when I get home or get on the bus. No Sign of Rotten Leaves is undoubtedly my favorite record from 2025!