Elephant9

Norwegian progressive/neo-psychedelic/jazz-rock trio Elephant9 exist in an ever-evolving musical collision of mid-'70s Miles Davis, Weather Report, Tony Williams Lifetime, King Crimson, and Hawkwind, filtered through an anarchic yet canny expression of technological and improvisational futurism that can range from harmonic and funky to dissonant, blaring, and sprawling. They have drawn considerable praise from both the jazz and rock communities worldwide for their album catalog, beginning with 2008's Dodovoodoo. Commencing in 2012, they began a series of ongoing yet sporadic collaborations with vanguard guitarist and bandleader Reine Fiske, starting with Atlantis, and later with Silver Mountain (2015) and Psychedelic Backfire II (2019). The group returned as a trio format and shifted musical direction for 2021's Arrival of the New Elders, relying more on through composition, structured space, and multivalent textures than on free jamming. On 2024's Mythical River they continued to build on that aesthetic. In October, Rune Grammofon released Catching Fire, a live set documenting a 2017 collaborative performance with guitarist Terje Rypdal. Elephant9 formed in Oslo around the talents of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken (Supersilent), bass player Nikolai Hængsle (National Bank), and drummer Torstein Lofthus (Shining). The instrumental group's heady blend of mid-'70s Miles Davis, Weather Report, the Tony Williams Lifetime, King Crimson, and Yes has drawn considerable praise. Elephant9's debut album, Dodovoodoo, was released on the Rune Grammofon label in June 2008, and drew positive reviews in Europe. 2010's Walk the Nile attracted U.S. jazz critics who welcomed its provocative improvisational attack. The band issued Live at the BBC in 2011, and the recording was greeted with nearly universal acclaim, garnering interest from both the rock and jazz press. When Elephant9 returned to the studio, they enlisted guitarist Reine Fiske (Dungen, latter-day Trad, Gräs och Stenar) as a collaborator for 2012's Atlantis -- he received co-billing. After an intense bout of touring, the members of Elephant9 took a time-out to focus on their other individual projects. Fiske was enlisted again when the band began recording sessions for a new album. In early 2016, Silver Mountain -- again co-billed -- was released by Rune Grammofon. Two years later, after collaborations with Fiske and guitarist Terje Rypdal, they returned to the core trio of their two first albums -- Storløkken, Hængsle, and Lofthus -- to investigate a more visceral but groove-oriented sound. The single "Actionpack1" was issued in January of 2018, with their fifth full-length, Greatest Show on Earth, following a month later. Elephant9 thwarted critical and industry expectations by simultaneously releasing a pair of albums in 2019 entitled Psychedelic Backfire I & II. In essence, both were studio quality live best-ofs. The latter offered another collaboration with Fiske, and opened with a surprising, utterly reimagined 14-minute cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." Sensing that their meld of high-energy improvisational rock and power jazz had run its course, Elephant9 returned to the trio format to begin experimenting with, and ultimately altering, their musical direction. 2021's Arrival of the New Elders delivered a sound that melded nuanced trio composition to improvisation in more deliberate, slower tempi in group interplay amid an ambitious use of harmony, space, and texture. They netted their most laudatory reviews for the effort. After spending many months touring, Elephant9 re-entered the studio with recording and mixing engineer Mattias Glavå (Dungen's producer). They cut six compositions by keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and a pair of ambient bookends. Titled Mythical River, the 2024 set (the six composed tracks were all by keyboardist Ståle Storløkken), further explored the formal contemporary direction initiated on Arrival of the New Elders, yet added a determinedly futurist aesthetic. In October, their label Rune Grammofon released the double-length Catching Fire. The set captured a 2017 live collaboration between the band and world-renowned guitarist Terje Rypdal. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi