Norwegian trio Elephant9 creates a 21st-century schizoid child of the heaviest, riffiest elements of seventies prog and jazz-rock: something akin to early King Crimson and ELP crossed with Miles Davis’s Live Evil and Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Between Nothingness and Eternity. They are Ståle Storløkken (Hammond organ, Rhodes piano, Mellotron), Nikolai Hængsle (electric bass) and Torstein Loftus (drums) – and for this 2017 Oslo concert they were joined by Norwegian ECM guitar legend Terje Rypdal.

Rypdal is the perfect choice. His first album, the eponymous Terje Rypdal (1971), was like a lyrical take on electric Miles Davis; Chaser (1985) and Blue (1987) were heavily rock-oriented; and, even more significantly, Storløkken has appeared on three Rypdal albums, Vossabrygg (2006), Crime Scene (2010) and Conspiracy (2020), albums that at times share a similar aesthetic to Elephant9. Storløkken and Rypdal also played together on an epic six-CD recording Very Much Alive (2010), in a trio led by Italian drummer Paolo Vinaccia. In fact, their musical affinity is such that on Catching Fire it’s sometimes hard to tell apart Storløkken’s heavily distorted organ from Rypdal’s overdriven guitar.

The six tunes on Catching Fire are taken from Elephant9’s first three studio albums, Dodovoodoo (2008), Walk the Nile (2010) and Atlantis (2012), and mostly extended into long and sweaty workouts. ‘I Cover the Mountain Top’ is over 22 minutes and ‘Dodovoodoo’ over 21 minutes. In comparison, ‘John Tinnick’ is a featherweight 4:56, while the other three tunes average around ten minutes.

Expect plenty of swagger and powerhouse jazz-rock, but subtlety too. ‘I Cover the Mountain Top’ in particular is a masterclass in building atmosphere and tension. Fans of Storløkken’s work on Supersilent albums will appreciate his eerie organ textures, clanging Rhodes and fluty Mellotron at the start, soon joined by Rypdal’s signature reverb-drenched long notes (no wonder that Rypdal is known as ‘the tone poet of the Stratocaster’). It’s a good nine minutes before a full-on assault of grinding Keith Emerson-esque organ, bruising guitar and driving bass and drums. But then there’s a dropdown to a pulsing bass riff and groove-driven drumming topped by sparse organ and guitar solos – before building, building, building…

… then a jump-cut straight into ‘Dodovoodoo’, which goes in hard with jabs of organ and tight bass and drums. Over its 21 minutes it flows and ebbs from rock-driven organ and guitar solos, to funky bass and sparse drums, to robot-chatter keyboard sounds, rapid drumming, bass riffs, murky Mellotron, and heavy bluesy riffing. ‘Psychedelic Backfire’ starts off doom-laden with a riff of a downwards octave slide on bass and sparse drum thumps, overlaid by thick organ textures and heavy guitar blues riffing, before building pace towards a thrilling ending. In comparison, the short and thrashy ‘John Tinnick’ has an almost punk-like energy; ‘Fugl Fønix’ is rhythmically dense with polyrhythmic drumming and a dextrous bass riff, overlaid by long guitar and keyboard textures; and ‘Skink’ finishes the set like ELP on steroids, bass and drums an unstoppable locomotive with an ear-bleeding organ solo on top, but then a funky, bluesy groove with heavily distorted guitar, before a final frenetic race home.

For anyone (like this reviewer) who grew up in the seventies obsessed with prog rock before discovering jazz, this album will be a glorious mix of modernity mixed with nostalgia. And maybe it will tempt younger listeners to check out not only Elephant9 but also the pioneers (Terje Rypdal included) who inspired them.

• Label: Rune Grammofon
• RCD2236
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