For those who aren’t keen on jazz in its variant forms, Ivar Grydeland’s classification as a jazz musician should not serve as a deterrent from investigating ‘Stop Freeze Wait Eat.’ His output to date, both solo and collaborative has been varied and wide-ranging, and here, he’s delivered an intriguing album which straddles countless boundaries.
There are four ‘Stop Freeze Wait’ tracks – Sing, Bleed, Run, Sleep. The first of these – ‘Sing’ creates an immense platform from which the rest of the album spreads, rhizome-like, in myriad directions, building deep, ominous and otherworldly atmospheres.
Dolorous chimes, low dulcimer sounds resonate, rippling out over fizz and crackle, extraneous pink and white noise cascades. Soft-focus, clean guitar strums and echoes picks form undulating rhythms; sparse piano notes hang while glitches flicker in a smoggy half-light. These are spacious works, minimalist forms with deceptive depths.
The remaining tracks – two different perspectives on delay with ‘Lag, Accumulated’ (A and B), and ‘Eat After Me’ are different again, instrumentally and compositionally, revealing yet more facets of Grydeland’s musical questing.
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The compositions are packed with subtle details, hints and brief allusions. That nothing is explicit, overstated or fully formed is integral to their capacity for evocation, touching and tickling at the imagination in unexpected ways.
The album closes by heading in another, hitherto unheard direction, as an almost Americana-infused folk acoustic guitar line forms recognisable shapes.
It’s by no means an immediate album, but this is yet another thing in its favour. Repeat listens reveal new dimensions and new possibilities. Sit back, relax and let Ivar Grydeland guide you through an altogether different soundscape.
Ivar Grydeland Online
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