Elephant9
Mythical River
Label: Rune Grammofon
Genre: Jazz / Avant Garde
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After a solid run of five studio albums and two double live albums, Psychedelic Backfire I and II, (both 2019), Elephant9 had taken their groovy mix of high energy rock and power jazz as far as they could.
In this respect their previous album Arrival of The New Elders (2021) came as a welcome and most timely addition to their recorded output. More varied, mature and reflective, they were as groovy as ever, but more structured and less jam oriented, earning them a 9/10 review in Uncut and a spot in their albums of the year list, noting their telepathic communion and concluding with “this is an Elephant9 you´ll never forget”.
Jazzwise, Shindig, Prog, Electronic Sound, The Quietus and several others followed in the same fashion. Mythical River is moulded much in the same way and a natural follow-up, with six stellar new compositions by keyboard maestro Ståle Storløkken, bookended by two short cosmic snippets. From the hypnotic and magical to the razor sharp and polyrhythmic, this is yet another strong group effort from a trio on top of their game. Comparisons have been made with bands dating as far back as the sixties, but with Arrival of The New Elders and Mythical River, Elephant9 appear as a thoroughly contemporary, timeless and even futuristic sounding band.
Mythical River was recorded and mixed by previous Dungen producer Mattias Glavå. Ståle started his musical journey in Veslefrekk with Jarle Vespestad and Arve Henriksen in the 90s, soon morphing into Supersilent with Helge Sten on board. He´s also a member of Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns, Møster! and Humcrush, and have collaborated with a number of artists, most notably Motorpsycho. Nikolai is also a member of Bigbang, Needlepoint and Band of Gold and have appeared on a couple of hundred records. The same goes for Torstein, an associate member of numerous bands ranging from pop and soul to free jazz. But Elephant9 has always been their special baby.