Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Best Albums of 2011: Equilibrium

JazzWrap revisits a great year of discoveries in 2011.

Equilibrium (trio)
Walking Voices (Songlines Recordings; 2011)
Sissel Vera Pettersen (voice, sax)
Joachim Badenhorst (clarinet)
Mikkel Ploug (guitar)

Simply put, Walking Voices is one of the most beautiful records you'll hear all year. There is a blissful nature to the music. Pettersen, Badenhorst and Ploug weave a delicate web of electronics, folk and chamber classical themes into a dream-like soundscape built on the 15 solid pieces. Incorporating these themes may seem difficult but this trio do it with ease.

The spiritual flowing "Silverise" embodies the aesthetics of the group. It's atmospheric, organic and exploratory. Invoking the essence of Eno, Glass or Laurie Anderson, "Whitless" is awash of multi layered effects both vocal and electronic that will leave a dizzying effect on you as to the strength of this trio.

In our original piece on Walking Voices,  I discussed how Equilibrium have shown they are beyond description and that the music revolves and involves with many themes and varying sounds. This still holds true as I listen to again today. Each of the musicians has there own successful groups that they led but together they are one of the most innovative to come on the scene in recent years.

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