By Paul Acquaro
There was just a cryptic email and a link to Bandcamp for this short (35 minutes), inexpensive (free) and exciting album called Glas Live at Brotz.
The group, Glas, from Norway is Lars Larsson on saxophone, Gunnar Backman on guitar and live loops, Peeter Uuskyla on drums, Niclas Rydh on trombone and Anders Berg on bass, and they are pretty dynamic collective. The first song ‘Comb Jelly’, starts with a sprawling free jazz blow out atop a feed back drenched drone. The sax style invokes the sound of Mats Gustafsson’s FIRE! From there, it only gets better. A heavily effected guitar provides a whirling solo that segues into a vibrant swinging free section. The second song, ‘Tiktaalik’, starts ethereally, single notes plucked from the air, but over the course of its 20 minutes, it builds in density and richness, contracting and expanding. The heavily effected guitar contrasts with the dual horns, as they play elongated lines behind the more strident plucking. The drums carry a strong pulse, not settling into a groove so much as propelling everything forward.
Sometimes you get lucky, and good things appear from nowhere.
Check it out at (and download for free): http://simlas.bandcamp.com/album/glas-at-br-tz
