Papir: VI
Stickman Records

Nearly two years on from its fifth full-length V, guitarist Nicklas Sørensen, bassist Christian Becher, and drummer Christoffer Brøchmann return with the equally unfussily titled VI (available in clear vinyl, including download, and on CD). In similar spirit, the release's four tracks are titled with Roman numerals, the Copenhagen-based trio seemingly more interested in channeling its energy into the business of playing than titling. The trio's trademark telepathy is all over the thirty-nine-minute set, from the controlled blaze of the opening track to the stunning stratospherics the three get up to in the roaring closer.

Sørensen drives the opening “I” with a master class in lethal riffology that's well-matched by the volcanic bite of his partners. A veritable inferno of sorts is generated by their interactions, which push ever insistently forward as they advance past structural checkpoints during the anthemic performance. Pausing for but a moment, “II” carries on where “I” leaves off, Becher elbowing the groove along, Brøchmann showering it with cymbal flourishes and rimshots, and Sørensen dishing out a series of chiming figures. In no time at all, the trio's pastoral-tinged sound blossoms into a panoramic evocation of sprawling countryside vistas, the Danish air replenishing and the horizon stretching as far as the eye can see. A hint of wah-wah surfaces in the guitarist's attack that briefly nods in a Hendrixian direction, but the band resists the urge to detour into psychedelic freakout territory, opting instead to roar full-steam down the krautrock highway.

A slightly more atmospheric emphasis lends “III” a blissed-out quality that, coupled with entrancing melodic content and pealing outpourings by Sørensen, makes the track the album's most swoon-inducing. While Papir's heavy sound remains very much in place, the material's accessible enough one could imagine a listener of any age and listening disposition being pulled into it. The eleven-minute outro “IV” captures Papir at its most incendiary, the trio seemingly having kept energy in reserve to deliver this most aggressive performance of the four. With layers of raw wail lifting the performance skyward, Sørensen's at his most crushing, Becher and Brøchmann matching his intensity with thunderous muscularity of their own. A smidgen of prog even emerges midway through with the addition of mellotron-like washes.

June 2019