Exit!

Description

Fire! is a Swedish trio comprising Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums). Fire! is where they go to stretch their instrumental skills and try playing outside their comfort zones, or collaborate with prestigious guests (see their previous Rune Grammofon releases You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (2009), Unreleased? with Jim ORourke (2011), and In The Mouth A Hand with Oren Ambarchi (2012)).

Fire! Orchestra takes the project to the next level: a sonic behemoth comprising 31 members that should be unmanageable, but turns out to possess the elegance and lucidity of the righteous free jazz big bands of the past. Charlie Hadens Liberation Orchestra. Carla Bleys Escalator Over the Hill. Centipede. Sun Ras Space Is The Place. Chris McGregors Brotherhood Of Breath. Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglus Sing Me A Song Of Songmy. All these classic landmarks come to mind as you listen to their monumental Exit!.

Exit! was recorded in January 2012 at the headquarters of Fylkingen, the legendary Stockholm avant garde music centre. But before you go thinking this is an impenetrable free jazz meltdown, listen again. Exit! follows in these mighty footprints, but its also an odyssey that takes its own route, with post-rock/krautrock diversions along the way. There is a way in to Exit!, and the way out is clearly signposted. Fire! is all about burning up tradition and blazing new paths and fresh approaches in improvised music approaches informed equally by garage punk, electroacoustics and the noise of heavy industry.

Throughout both long halves of Exit!, Mariam Wallentin and Sofie Jernberg chant ritualistic lyrics written by Arnold de Boer of Dutch avant rock institution, The Ex. The text, he explains, is about concrete and non-concrete space, and about the possibility of improvising in actual space, and the ties, ropes and teachers in many online spaces and programs. Its up to the various sorts of fire to define the real, irreal, surreal and unreal.

Exit! might be a monotonous monolith of repetitive beats, or a tornado-eye of wild solos, but it has a point to make. Personnel Mats Gustafsson alto/bass saxophones, Johan Berthling electric bass, Andreas Werliin drums, Sten Sandell piano/electronics, Raymond Strid drums, Mariam Wallentin voice, Sofia Jernberg voice, Fredrik Ljungkvist baritone sax/clarinet, Andreas Söderström guitar, David Stackenäs guitar, Joachim Nordwall electronics, Joe Williamson bass With Emil Svanängen, Niklas Barnö, Magnus Broo, Emil Strandberg, Mats Äleklint, Per Ake Holmlander, Anna Högberg, Elin Larsson, Christer Bothen, Jonas Kulhammar, Sören Runolf, Tomas Hallonsten, Joel Grip, Dan Berglund, Tomas Mera Gartz, Johan Holmegard