Erlend Apneseth: Fragmentarium
Hubro

Though its compositions are credited to Erlend Apneseth and it's released under his name, Fragmentarium is very much an ensemble affair and a quintessential Hubro release too, given the musicians the Hardanger fiddler recruited for it. All involved bring label connections to the project: guitarist Stein Urheim's issued a number of solo and group recordings on Hubro; keyboardist Anja Lauvdal, drummer Hans Hulbækmo, and double bassist Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson make up the trio Moskus and play in the large outfit Skadedyr, as does accordionist Ida Løvli Hidle. The latter, interestingly, inhabits the chair on Fragmentarium her one-time teacher Frode Haltli occupied on Apneseth's 2019 release Salika, Molika.

The genesis for the album (available in digital, CD, and LP formats) was a commission Apneseth received from the Kongsberg Jazz Festival for its 2019 presentation. Inspired to assemble a new ensemble for the occasion, he chose musicians capable of helping him convert his blueprints into expansive, live-sounding arrangements and imprint themselves onto the material in the process. The leader deliberately wanted to cede some degree of control to his partners so that their personalities would strongly assert themselves. In preparing the material for the festival, he also sought to integrate elements of Kongsberg's folk music history into the pieces and ultimately hoped to create instrumentals that, in his own words, would “feel old, present, and future at the same time.”

Checking that future box, Lauvdal's synthesizer and electronics by her and Urheim give the material a spacey dimension, whereas the guitarist's fretless-bouzouki, Hidle's accordion, and the leader's fiddle bring a rustic, timeless folk dimension to the songs. The collective's as comfortable playing softly as raucously as it advances through the seven pieces, all of them marked by a live feel that reveals players responding to compositional guidelines and the other participants. Each piece feels freshly born in the moment, the musicians focusing intently as they collectively midwife the material into being.

An openness to experimentation is seen in the inclusion of spoken word samples (from archival recordings found at Folkemusikksenteret i Buskerud) in the title track, which otherwise sprawls into a wild folk jam featuring Apneseth's fiddle and Hulbækmo's Jew's harp chug. Improv's at a high during the mercurial “Gruvene,” an exploration that ventures into so many stylistic areas it's impossible to tie it to any one in particular. Never does that past-present-future principle sound more in play than during “Det mørknar,” which couples seething washes of synthesizer and electronics with lyrical fiddle melodic statements.

It's in the settings' restrained episodes, however, where the impact of Apneseth's Hardanger fiddle playing is felt most; its mournful cry in the plodding “Du fallande jord” and brief trio setting “No, etterpå” certainly accounts for some of the album's more powerful moments. As much, therefore, as Fragmentarium was conceived with an ensemble in mind, it's the sound of the leader's instrument that makes the deepest impression. As with the other Hubro albums Apneseth's released, it's that element that stays with the listener long after the album ends.

April 2020