Bees In The Bonnet＜限定盤/Clear Vinyl＞

Bees in the Bonnet marks the first outing by the original Hedvig Mollestad Trio since 2021s Ding Dong. Youre Dead. Double bassist Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjornstad played alternating roles on the guitarists albums in 2022: Maternity Beat with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra featured Elephant9s Torstein Lofthus on the drum kit, and their recording of the score of composer Arne Nordheims The Tempest Revisited added a slew of musicians with Trond Frones on bass. Bees in the Bonnet is a return to basics for the trio. That said, they take those basics to extremes. Check opener "See See Bop." Its opening vamp insistently reflects the influence of Deep Purples Ritchie Blackmore; the vamp bears undisguised ghost traces of "My Woman from Tokyo." That riff persists and is played in rounds where first guitar, then bass, then drums, alternate in the foreground as it chugs until the halfway mark, when the beat syncopates for a bit before the crunch resumes in a higher key. By contrast, "Golden Griffin" nods at the influence of Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer in angular prog. Scalar runs drift into expansive harmonic terrain as the rhythm section pushes an ever-evolving vamp that ever so slightly shifts in time and texture throughout. "Itta" offers undisguised homages to guitarists Terje Rypdal and the young John McLaughlin. It opens with a bracing staccato rhythm before slowly transforming into a hypnotic fusion vamp at once knotty and forceful. "Bobs Your Giddy Aunt" is metallic vanguard prog, though the tunes central vamp is accessible. In the final third, the band engages in harmonic and rhythmic counterpoint, adding mystery and power to the proceeding. "Lamament" is a haunting ballad composed for Mollestads father. Its atmospheric and spare, hovering in front of the listener like a specter. Her melody is bittersweet and exquisite, showcasing an entirely different dimension of the trio. It provides an excellent introduction to the labyrinthine jazz-rock closer "Apocalypse Slow." Here more than anywhere else, the trios experience lends itself to adventure. The tune eventually grinds into a transcendent, overdriven vamp, Brekken and Bjornstad increase the tension; Brekkens bass throbs directly into Mollestads sophisticated yet unhinged solo: it screams, grinds, and bleeds before the rhythm section gathers Mollestad up, and together they play a faster, complex, interlocking groove that moves through several more speedy transitions. The members of the original Mollestad Trio have remained part of her orbit, no matter who played on what. Their Bees in the Bonnet reunion delivers a musically adventurous approach to heavy, riff-laden, wildly progressive jazz-rock filtered directly through 70s metal. These seemingly extreme elements are stitched together to deliver what is easily her most accessible recording yet. ~ Thom Jurek