In The Country - Whiteout

Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country´s third album ”Whiteout” qualifies to be called their magnum opus. Most of the music was performed and written as a thank you, as is the tradition, after leader Morten Qvenild was awarded Kongsberg Jazzfestival´s prestigious Musicians Award. Other receivers have included notables such as Nils Petter Molvær, Bugge Wesseltoft and Sidsel Endresen. Qvenild is already established as a writer with a strong signature, original and melodic with elements from many genres of music. His playing, rich in detail and dynamics but never dominant in a show-off way, is always for the best of the whole and the composition. On ”Whiteout” themes are given time to develop, much like exploratory jazz and classic progressive rock music. It´s also a highly personal album coming to an emotional and dramatic conclusion with the touching last track sung by Morten himself. Morten Qvenild (30) is probably best known for being the orchestra in Susanna and the Magical Orchestra but has plenty more to show for. He has been a member of both Shining and Jaga Jazzist and is since long a member of Solveig Slettahjell´s Slow Motion Orchestra. He formed In The Country with fellow music students Roger Arntzen (31) and Pål Hausken (28) at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo in 2003. Since then they have been selected best young jazz artists in Norway, played concerts in Europe and USA and released two albums, ”This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat” (RCD2045) and ”Losing Stones, Collecting Bones” (RCD2059) to much critical acclaim. Downbeat called their debut ”one of the finest and most arresting albums to come out of Europe” that year, Mojo said ”startling”,  Straight No Chaser said ”fantastic” and a host of others followed. As with the previous albums, both are wonderfully performed and recorded in the legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, home of the first classic Abba recordings and full of vintage analogue equipment. Special mentions must go to engineer Janne Hansson for his care and attention and a wonderful working enviroment, Bob Katz for giving it the finishing touch at the mastering stage and Kim Hiorthøy for the bold and striking sleeve design.

Tracks: 1/From The Shore 2/Kungen 3/Doves Dance 4/Ursa Major 5/Dead Water 6/W. A. R. M. 7/Mother

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