release date: 25.06.2021 via Jazzland Recordings
“At once modern and sepia-toned, Maridalen is an immersive low-end dreamworld that distils distant Nordic jazz variants into a singular vision…. a powerful sedative, washing blues away.”
★★★★ Jazz Album Of The Month MOJO
“It sounds delicate and beautiful, and it comes from a place with depth in it. A place reserved for music.” Aftenposten (NO) 5/6
“…just the kind of happiness pill we need right now.” Ruben Gran, NRK P3 (NO)
“Something as good as this does not come along every day. Make your day with Maridalen. You won’t regret it. Not for a moment.” Steven Graham, Marlbank (UK) 5/6
“A noble threesome, they make good things happen slowly with a style that nods to finely sculpted film scores, high on atmosphere and low on theatrics.”
Gareth Thompson, Allaboutjazz
New Norwegian trio Maridalen release their eponymous debut album on Jazzland Recordings on CD / DL on the 25th June 2021. The name Maridalen comes from the scenic valley that lies just north of Oslo city center. The trio’s eponymous debut was recorded in the wooden Maridalen church, just a short distance from the old stone ruins of St Margaretakirken and the shores of Maridalsvannet. The album includes the trios acclaimed Norwegian singles: Blir Net Regn I Dag, Tru?[It’s Not Raining Today, Right?] and På Gjenseyn [Goodbye]
What initially started as an opportunity to practice together gradually evolved into the Maridalen project. The three members found their tone in the warm harmony of double bass, trumpet and woodwind, completely without chordal instruments. In addition, they also discovered a common predilection for Swedish jazz (Jan Johansson, Bernt Rosengren and Lars Gullin), minimalist film music and French Impressionism. From there, the trio has developed their own musical space that both captures different mood moments and creates small stories.
The music is original and moves between different genres through an intimate and acoustic soundscape, a melodic and sonorous focus. Together they see the beauty in the patinated and unpolished, where the creaking of the wood and the clinking of old metal become part of the expression. It was therefore only natural that their first album was recorded in an old wooden church.
The album contains ten compositions where the listener is taken into different moods; from the melancholy of a possible rainy day, to the silence of a night suddenly broken by a passing subway car. In some places, the trio has included new sound elements, such as in the song “Urverket” where the sound has been processed through an old Tandberg tape recorder from the 50’s. The moods in each song are led by melodies that are told and processed through collective improvisation and sonic exploration.
Release: Maridalen : Maridalen : CD / DL : Jazzland : 25th June 2021
Line up :
Anders Hefre – saxophones, clarinet
Jonas Kilmork Vemøy – trumpet
Andreas Rødland Haga – double bass
Tracklist:
Tracklisting:
1. Koral 03:34
2.Maridalen 04:23
3.Blir det regn i dag, tru? 04:53
4.Inga 04:32
5.Svartoren 05:45
6.Midt på natten et sted 02:54
7.Russisk landsbymelodi 03:44
8.Vals fra Bjølsen 04:20
9.På gjensyn 06:07
10.Urverket 02:23