Bliss are trumpeter Oscar Andreas Haug, saxophonist Zakarias Meyer Øverli, pianist/Rhodes player Benjamín Gísli Einarsson, acoustic fretless bass guitarist Gard Kronborg and drummer Rino Sivathas
No need for a diss it’s Bliss Quintet three years on from their splendidly titled but still perishingly obscure oeuvre beyond chillier climes, Dramaqueen. Catch up on some numbers from that here on this partial rehash also factoring in a trip to the Glasshouse.
Because the faithful in the fan base are also rewarded with some live versions of a smattering of Glasshouse tracks – their album, also on Jazzland, from a couple of years ago.
Hard to pin down trumpeter Oscar Andreas Haug is a little Verneri Pohjola like.
In other words Haug is clear toned, jazz-rock hinting, goes a bit free sometimes but is fundamentally an ”inside” sort of player. Never mind the microtones, dear Oscar ain’t afraid to wig out when his muckers egg him on. And they certainly do on the storming ‘Ida’ at the end. It was even pretty punchy on Glasshouse but there’s more life here.
This down and dirty sonically alive digital only release recorded at a tastemaker festival in Bergen is not that free-ish or experimental but hints in that direction.
If you are too timid a Bozo to go for an all you can eat free-for-all but like the idea of throwing caution to the wind a bit, then begorrah these Nordic cats are at it like there ain’t no tomorrow.
Electrified by Benjamín Gísli Einarsson on keys on ‘Ida’ the 5 don’t jive or try to be hip but kind of are. There’s nothing cringe here.
Live albums often have the tendency to ramble on. So you get hugely long tracks and sure enough there are 3 of the 7 numbers that each clock in at over 10 minutes a piece.
Led off by a poignant piano line from Einarsson there’s a certain innocent sorcery on a bucolic track like ‘Bethany’. But Bliss are nothing like the far more retro Maridalen outfit that we have a soft spot for given this isn’t Cool School and lands in more of a Bitches Brew milieu.
The minor mode ”equilibrium” – it says it in the title – breathiness of ‘Jamvekstmoll’ which was on Dramaqueen in a far more serious version is a highlight and the audience go reliably potty after Haug hogs the limelight agreeably. As for the fun (shock) quotient – again going back to Dramaqueen and the jaunty ‘When in Michelbach’ – is the one.
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