Smilet Er En Flyktig Tilstand

For several decades Norway has had a healthy tradition for prog, psych and jazz fusion, yet there’s something very different about the ensemble that is Fra Det Onde (“From Evil”).The group is comprised of one of Europe’s finest jazz drummers Olaf Olsen of Needlepoint, Motorpsycho and Bigbang, bassist Rune Neergaard of Bushman’s Revenge and Exoterm, and trumpeter Erik Kimestad, one of the brightest young stars in current Scandinavian jazz.They also have a secret weapon in the form of sonic wizard Emil Nikolaisen, known for his pioneering noise rock in Serena Maneesh, as well as a collaborative album with Todd Rundgren. He is currently a member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.Emil not only contributes Farfisa and weird electronics to the group’s free-flowing streams of sound, he’s also responsible for the innovative album mix that expands the ensemble’s vision into new and astonishing territory.Smilet Er En Flyktig Tilstand is one of those rare records that manages to absorb the spirit of the past and transform it into something new and exciting. Listening to the suite that makes up most of the album, one can sense the cosmic energy of 1970s Don Cherry, or the sonic adventurism of Can in their prime, but Fra Det Onde pushes these aesthetics into the extreme.Labels such as “fusion” or “psychedelic jazz” don’t really come close to describing the rush of energy and kaleidoscopic sonics taking place on this record.