SOLID ETHER

Second Nils Petter Molvaer solo album continues his experiments mixing ECM jazz sound with modern club -electronics. Differently from his excellent debut, there are less guitar sounds, less energy and less Nils trumpet solos. He even plays many keyboards there as well. Common sound is transferred from strange and beautiful combination of ambient, distorted guitar scratching and cool trumpet on the first plan, to techno-noise-clubbing background. There is still trumpet on the front of the sound, but it doesn't sound as unusually beautiful, as before.

Album's music still saved all traces of the mix, invented on the debut , but became more accessible, more club-sound oriented and less interesting. There two short compositions with vocals are included as well ( just Nils' acoustic piano and guest singer Sidsel Endresen voice), but the result is less then attractive.

Still good album, but doesn't have that freshness and innovativeness of debut. And ( for bad) showed the trend to more club-oriented music, which will change his music more in his later albums.