JORD

I've only known Jordsjø for about three weeks, but this Norwegian duo has blown me away in a way it hadn't since I bought Änglagård's Hybris back in 1997 (shortly after it went out of print), that prog of this quality can be had and it was released after the 1970s. Jordsjø manages just that for me! The duo consists of multi-instrumentalist Håkon Oftung and drummer Kristian Frøland but from listening to the music you'd think it was a full band, but a full band is hired for live performances. Their double LP set from 2017 compiled material from their first three cassettes, including the split with progressive electronic act Breidablik called Songs from the Northern Wasteland (an obvious reference to Michael Hoenig's Departure from the Northern Wasteland). That double album set left me with me mind blown, it's everything I've ever wanted in prog! The Norwegian vocals may be a bit difficult on non-Norwegian ears, but I have no problem with that, even if I'm American. I'm used to foreign languages in prog ever since I got hooked on Italian prog back in the 1990s. This 2017 cassette release Jord wasn't featured on the double album set, naturally, but it comes to show how much Jordsjø is bound to be a force to reckon with in the prog community. The production seems a bit more polished, but make no doubt about it. The music is the same as before: in the Änglagård, Wobbler, Tusmørke and Sinkadus vein. "Le Meg Forsvinne!" is another one of those Solina String Ensemble-lead pieces similar in vein to "Solina, Min Dronning", it's clear Oftung wanted to record a very similar song. Once again, in the vein of late '70s German prog bands like Eloy or Novalis, there's a brief ELP-like organ break before going back into that late '70s German space prog vein. "Postludium" is very different from the rest of the album as it's firmly in the vein of Breidablik, I wouldn't doubt Breidablik was influencing Oftung. Rather eerie spacy electronic music that's clearly progressive electronic, then it ends with this strange pipe organ that sounds like a Mellotron pipe organ. The way things are going, I expect Jordsjø to be smash hit with progheads everywhere. Their music simply left my mind blown, and Jord is no exception!