Hidden Notes: Ola Kvernberg - The Mechanical Fair
Today's artist is the norwegian violinist and Jazz composer Ola Kvernberg.
I'm taking as a referee his latest work (2014) The Mechanical Fair, which is undoubtedly a must listen for everyone reading (Jazz or non Jazz listeners).
Kvernberg's music is presented as a mixture of repetitive patterns, which goes hand in hand with 2000's electronic music as we can also notice by some of the beautiful Remixes around the web, and the incredible organic research in acoustical and harmonic composition.
This is molded in a package of beautiful tracks and almost cinematic movement that makes the album one of those "Flying with your mind" type.
The genre of his music is hardly jazz in a traditional way, really resolutive: it follows a more classical direction when it comes to phrasing and strings arrangement but modern when dealing with rhythms and polyrhythms, reaching the grooves with transitions that hit hard in a way but soothing to the listeners soul.
His stylish composition and recording method is delivered to the extreme in the 1st and 3rd track that I suggest to listen at least one time before deciding if you're gonna save or not the album on Spotify.
The mixing is also extremely good, precise and clear, with a lot of dynamics, at least enough to make you turn up the volume that little bit and then surprise you when it explodes; every instrument is a beauty for the ears.
I was extremely surprised by the overall quality of this work, so much to find myself listening and looking for it over and over.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3XitOEQCkVRHi7BgnMsiJQ
Three good Track:
Mechanical Fair
Dualist
Metamechanics