Recording of the Week, Per Oddvar Johansen - The Quiet Cormorant

Although it’s hardly in short supply nowadays, there’s something to be said about isolation and contemplation, especially in music making. Norwegian drummer Per Oddvar Johansen’s 2016 solo studio debut Let’s Dance was a deep and atmospheric album recorded in a studio in the isolated Swedish countryside that ultimately codified his meditative approach to jazz. Though recorded this time around in the concrete landscape of his native Oslo, The Quiet Cormorant, named after the coastal seabird and carrying connotations of ‘good omens’ in Scandinavian cultures, was written in isolation on the coast of northern Norway.

A household name in Norwegian jazz circles, much of Per Oddvar Johansen’s early life was spent playing in local rock bands before diving headfirst into the study of jazz drumming, leading to a long stint of collaboration and sideman gigs in Norway from the early 90s, playing for everyone from Canadian flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler to Trondheim rockers Motorpsycho. Johansen has drawn favourable comparisons to the likes of fellow drummer Paul Motian, both in his compositional and playing styles, and is a five-time recipient of the ‘Spellemannprisen’ (or the ‘Norwegian Grammys’ as some call it), praised for his keen awareness of texture and attention to detail in his soundscape-like jazz.

Johansen is again joined by pianist Helge Lien and saxophonist Torben Snekkestad, his two compatriots from the Let’s Dance sessions, with occasional appearances by electric guitarist Hedvig Mollestad, bringing her style of jazz blurred with 70s hard rock guitar to the tracks ‘Brown House (By the Sea)’ and ‘Love, Peace & Currywurst’. Following the ambient title track, what feels like the album’s true opener ‘Waltz for Hire’ sets up the gentle Nordic sound with Johansen playing restrained against Lien’s mellow piano and Snekkestad’s lyrical sax, before returning to ambient territory with ‘Brown House (By the Sea)’ with the aforementioned Mollestad on guitar. Mollestad’s contributions to ‘Brown House’ feature some reverberated, fast-picked leads, a complement to the space Johansen sets with the tune. Mollestad later provides some scorching distorted shredding on the joyous tune ‘Peace, Love & Currywurst’ towards the middle of the album. Snekkestad’s saxophone playing takes the role of both the mellow accompaniment and full, fat solo tone, carrying much of the melodic sections of Johansen’s pieces, while Lien’s role feels more supportive, savouring his solo moments on tracks like ‘Sørvær Major Manor’ for some tasteful twinkling.

No doubt Johansen’s Nordic coastal retreat influenced the expansive sound of The Quiet Cormorant. It's hard not to envision Johansen writing these tunes with the view of an icy coastline, open and airy, and the tunes reflect this with a notably lack of rigidity; Let’s Dance was notable for placing an emphasis on rubato, aided by Johansen’s equally controlled and free use of his kit. As much as his fluid drumming is certainly one of the key appeals of the album, one of his strongest skills is holding back and offering the space to Lien and Snekkestad, guiding his two musicians through the landscapes. The minimal arrangement and sometimes sparse melodies give us a sense of implied vastness, like looking out across an empty, icy ocean. More of a reflection on the fruitful nature of isolation, much like its namesake, The Quiet Cormorant only asks you listen quietly to appreciate it.