Articles
17 Pygmies
Bruno Heinen
Daniel Wohl

Albums
17 Pygmies
ACV
Airhead
Arborea
Aufgang
Dinky
Ecovillage
Ekin Fil
Fausten
Greg Haines
Ian Hawgood
Bruno Heinen Sextet
Human
Mathew Jonson
Jacob Kirkegaard
The Knife
Lacuna
Machinefabriek & M. Pilots
Moonshoes
My Home, Sinking
RP Boo
Rhian Sheehan
Spazzkid
Aoki Takamasa
Dandy Teru
Time Is a Mountain
Witxes
Daniel Wohl
Zeitgeber

Compilations / Mixes
Aquarius
Calibre
minMAX
Schwarz / D & W / DIN
Silence Was Warm 4
Under The Influence 3

EPs / Cassettes / Singles
Anomalie 002
Chroma
Dying Machines
Kres
Kuantum
Mako and Villem
Martsman
Kate Simko
Spargel Trax 3 & 4
Test House
Chris Weeks

Time Is a Mountain: Time Is a Mountain
Häpna

If there's nothing terribly revolutionary about the idea of a keyboards-bass-drums trio, Time Is a Mountain nevertheless goes a long way towards reinvigorating the concept. It's all in the enthusiasm with which keyboardist Tomas Hallonsten, drummer Andreas Werliin, and bassist Johan Berthling dig into the recording's seven tracks. Werliin's a fabulous and resourceful drummer, for one, who animates the recording with endless reserves of imagination, forcefulness, and dexterity, and Hallonsten plays with an equal measure of free-form abandon and invention. It falls to Berthling, then, to be the stabilizing presence at the storm's center, and it's a role he's more than well-equipped to perform. The band's never needlessly showy, yet at the same time isn't shy about amplifying the music's impact with a spirited attack.

Ostensibly the brainchild of Hallonsten, Time Is a Mountain isn't a band predicated upon random improvisation. Instead, each song provides a compositional skeleton that the three musicians thoughtfully and telepathically build upon. The way the trio gradually escalates the intensity level in “Clear-Out Clouds” is a marvel to behold (a strategy revisited in “Tempi Campi”). As Werliin and Berthling establish a solid foundation, Hallonsten first sketches out the melodic material and then gradually transforms his keyboard sound into something more fluid and guitar-like. With the heat rising, the music builds dynamically, the drummer attacking his kit more ferociously and the overall sound assuming a neo-psychedelic tone as it flirts ever so dangerously with chaos.

“Wooden Keys” again finds Hallonsten bringing a guitar-like sound to the recording, in this case complementing his organ chords and synth textures with a solo that exudes the kind of distortion and pitch-shifting ability normally associated with a six-string. One comes away from the recording constantly surprised by the human-like cry he's able to coax from his machines. At times, Time Is a Mountain's sound gravitates in the direction of wild prog-psychedelia (e.g., the on-fire “Tempi Campi”) and in so doing puts considerable distance between its playing and the jazz-oriented style of the standard keyboards-led trio.

Enhancing the recording is stylistic range: loose in feel, “Clavier” wends a funkier path that affords Berthling room to maneuver and thread a generous number of serpentine phrases into the spaces created by his partners, while “Magicien,” warmed by organ chords and soft synth textures, unfolds in slow, dirge-like manner. “Tunnels in Time” even sees the trio tackling dub and doing so more-than-credibly, especially when studio production treatments are applied liberally to give the trio's playing a raw'n'rootsy feel. Adding to the recording's appeal is the trio's awareness of the value of concision: the forty-two-minute running time feels just about right—not too much, but not too little either.

June 2013