It happens that Erlend Viken irons out the book as if he were possessed by the ghost of some dead traditionalist, or that Marius Graff sneaks in moderate blues licks on the electric guitar. In these moments, the Erlend Viken Trio shines. It is the pure blues tendencies that come through well on “Ville veier”, the trio’s newest album. One should be happy about that, because the intersection between blues and folk music is something the trio seems to have a good understanding of. The album contains seven newly composed songs and two traditional songs. In this way, the album is perhaps a response to their previous album “Fete slånta” (2022), which consisted exclusively of traditional material. For ten years, Erlend Viken Trio has explored how folk music can be mixed with elements from Nordic jazz, rock and desert blues. Several times the trio has proven that electrifying old mowers can give them new life. Either the music is charged with a new tenderness, or they restore a forgotten rawness through the high wattage of the guitar amplifier. ELECTRIFIED FOLK MUSIC: In front of the lush, green trees, Sondre Meisfjord (bass) sits on a power cabinet while Erlend Viken (left) and Marius Graff stand next to what looks like a misplaced el-björn heating unit. Could there be a picture of how the trio tries to electrify overgrown areas? Photo: Eirik Havnes Musical matadors If I were to create a picture of the Erlend Viken Trio, it would have to be of them as a group of matadors standing in the arena and trying to egg up a bull standing some distance away. The bull grunts and stomps on the ground. At the sound of certain blues riffs, the bull sees red and lunges at the matadors, but the matadors do pirouettes, do cartwheels and deftly dodge the bull that charges towards them. I can’t quite explain why this is the picture I get. The music of the Erlend Viken Trio is of course not as intense and ugly as bullfights, and luckily no one will be slaughtered after the fight is over. The reason why bullfighting pops up in my mind is probably because their music evokes a similar nerve. There is a tension in the battle between two of the two different greats, between folk music and blues, and the trio definitely makes the most impression on me when the dynamic between these two is at its most active – as in the song “Byrsvegen”. “Byrsvegen” is a ballad composed by Erlend Viken and a good example of a successful style mix of country music and blues. Other times, this dynamic can turn out quite wrong. In “Bøgata blues”, the Erlend Viken Trio manages to create a moment that I believe many have experienced. They take us straight into a blues jam that has gone on too long and thus ended in a kind of tedium. The trio has brought along folk singer Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen as a guest musician for the drowsy jam. She has a voice that can make the audience swarm and nom, which can silence an entire stadium, but in this blues she seems to be involved haphazardly without the opportunity to express herself. Since the other tracks on the album have such a strong drive and will to tell something, it means that “Bøgata blues” pales. Transparent song structure To a greater extent than previously, I feel that “Ville veier” exposes how the Erlend Viken trio develops their musical ideas. Take, for example, the opening track on the record, “Nørre Myrelåtten”. It opens with a riff that immediately grabs hold of the listener and makes me nod my head in excitement or shake my head in astonishment, as the case may be. The riff itself is quite uncomplicated. It is a long phrase that fell, almost only step by step down a scale. Still, it sounded damn catchy. Later in the song, then the traditional one
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“Wild roads” by Erlend Viken Trio – Reviews and recommendations
