On eighth album Bees in the Bonnet, the Hedvig Mollestad Trio continues to blur boundaries between free jazz, proggy rock and blithe psychedelia with their signature telepathic chemistry, nuanced sonority, and uplifting spirit. Released on April 25, the album’s six adventurous tracks veer from celebratory riffage to cerebral balladry with an infectious, inclusive joy.
“A bee in your bonnet is something that you can’t stop thinking about,” explained celebrated guitarist/composer Mollestad from her coastal home near Oslo. “I wanted something that would describe the musical idea of the trio, which is what we’ve been doing for eight records.”
As a child, Mollestad would be moved literally to tears by the ostensibly dissimilar sounds of, say, Sonny Rollins and Pearl Jam – often on the same day. This genre juxtaposition, once dubbed “jazz Sabbath,” has become her trademark as a revered composer, award-winning solo artist and, since 2009, with her beloved trio (also known as HM3), formed after she received the This Year’s Jazz Talent award at Moldejazz that year. Fourteen years later, Mollestad returned to that storied fest as Artist in Residence, following the likes of Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and John Zorn in receiving that honor. In 2019, she was also awarded the prestigious Musicians Prize at Kongsberg Jazz Festival.
While her father was formerly a professional flügelhorn and trumpet player whose recordings include seminal folk-jazz opus Østerdalsmusikk with Jan Garbarek, Mollestad didn’t start nurturing her own talents seriously until her early twenties. She graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music but found her own voice almost in spite of her formal education while playing clubs with a diverse array of rock and jazz acts.
“All genres were exploded a long time ago,” she mulled. “The biggest reason we play music is because it’s extremely fun, makes us happy, and spreads joy, even if it gives you strong feelings.”
HM3’s Smells Funny made Rolling Stone’s “11 Great Albums You Probably Didn’t Hear in 2018,” with senior editor David Fricke also praising “the quality and ferocity of [Mollestad’s] guitar playing and improvisation, and the rhythmic bond of the group.” Their vibrant live sets shun any somberness associated with virtuosic musicality, instead focusing on sparkling spontaneity (and often stagewear), visceral audience connection, and sheer, dynamic joie de vivre. In short, they’re a band devoted to having a serious and musically challenging good time.
After an outpouring of seven acclaimed albums over a decade, accompanied by rapturously received touring all over Europe and North America, it’s been nearly four years since the Hedvig Mollestad Trio released triumphal seventh album Ding Dong. You’re Dead. Mollestad’s pent-up delight in reconnecting with cofounders Ellen Brekken (bass) and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (drums) pervades Bees in the Bonnet’s thirty-seven invigorating, beautifully baffling yet accessible minutes. Always self producing and releasing records solely through Rune Grammofon, HM3 has created its own fascinating sonic universe, offering fans a singular aural experience that’s earned a global cult following.
MARY OCHER:
Armed with two new records, Berlin's Mary Ocher returns for selected European shows following dates in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Ocher has been pushing the boundaries between pop and avant-garde for the past two decades, with playful and colorful form, and clever content that winks at everyone who recognizes its cultural and historical references. Her new album joins a series of apocalyptic and politically charged concept albums.
The critically acclaimed new album Your Guide To Revolution is a joyful ode to hope, released just six months after its predecessor, the edgy and experimental Approaching Singularity: Music for The End of Time. It was picked by The Quietus as "Album of The Week" and it joins Bandcamp's favorite Records of The Year. It also received the German Record Critics Prize.
The new recordings feature collaborations with Mogwai, Les Trucs, composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, pieces by fusion harpist Dorothy Ashby and 12th century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, a homage to electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire and much more.
They cover a vast musical landscape from post-punk, folk and field recordings, to cosmic synth compositions and deconstructed techno.
The two albums are accompanied by the political texts:
- "A Guide to Radical Living: A no nonsense guide to living comfortably with just enough: Why wealth needs poverty and how not to play along"
(available digitally, as an accompaniment to "Your Guide to Revolution").
- The full "Approaching Singularity" essay (a short version of which is available in print with the album):
www.maryocher.com/essay-approaching-singularity-music-for-the-end-of-time
Mary toured in 40 countries with previous releases, recorded and produced with Canadian Psych guru King Khan and Hans Joachim Irmler of Krautrock pioneers Faust, and feature collaborations with avant-garde legends Felix Kubin, Die Tödliche Doris and Julia Kent, among others.
"There is no artist quite like Mary Ocher. Her music is like an organism, evolving with each project, adapting to the world around it. "
- The Berliner
"A compelling piece of genre-spanning avant-pop equally suffused with a love of humanity, reflected in its voracious appetite for the many nuances of groove and sound, and an abhorrence for the many ways humanity is oppressed, compressed, and vaporized via the soul-crushing pressures of capitalism and encroaching technocracy."
- Bandcamp - Best of 2024
"A fierce, anti-capitalist critique of the West’s indifference towards human suffering. A cheery challenge to our governments’ inability to demonstrate basic humanity towards others”
- The Fader
"The revolution that Ocher proposes is not a militaristic coup but instead a form of cultural reconditioning that prompts us to reassess the roles we play within the capitalist framework."
- The Quietus - Album of The Week
