Recording of the Week, Little North, 'Familiar Places'

(Left to right: Benjamin Nørholm Jacobsen, Lasse Jacobsen & Martin Brunbjerg Rasmussen)

The somewhat unassumingly-titled Little North – comprised of pianist Benjamin Nørholm Jacobsen, bass player Martin Brunbjerg Rasmussen, and drummer Lasse Jacobsen – are a Danish jazz outfit from Copenhagen still in their relative infancy (as far as jazz goes). The piano trio, who released their debut album Yonder in 2016, met as a lot of young musicians do – united by their love of jazz piano trios whilst studying at the conservatoire in southern Denmark – and have been producing a steady stream of studio recordings ever since. Despite owing a fair amount of their style to the sophisticated, minimalist tones of past Nordic jazz acts, Little North aren’t afraid to broaden their palette a little, drawing on some of the more out-there sounds of New York jazz that brings a new excitement to the group’s music. Familiar Places picks up from where the trio’s previous studio effort, 2020’s much warmly-received Finding Seagulls left off, and rather than trying to mix up the formula too much Little North instead choose to play to their strengths for the follow-up, while also including a couple of guest features for a little spice this time around.

Where Little North excel where perhaps not every ‘Nordic piano trio’ might is in their bravery to be a little more playful than their dour Scandi contemporaries; the pop-like progression and energetic beat on ‘Running Down the Park’ makes for a refreshing opener, and while the following ‘It’s Beginning to Rain Again’ is more subdued and grey than its bright and colourful predecessor, it’s nice to know right from the get-go we’re not only to expect smoky jazz ballads. The main measure on ‘Spotting Salamanders’ sees the whole band playing in lock-step, tight as anything, while the comparatively atmospheric ‘Tide’ proves to be one of the more dynamic takes on the record, with one of the biggest climaxes where you’d be forgiven for thinking you were listening to more than simply a piano trio. One of the few changes that Little North do make to their formula this time around is the aforementioned guest musicians; the band welcomes Swedish-Bosnian guitarist Viktor Spasov on a few tracks – playing in unison with the piano melody and shredding it up on the opening track ‘Running Down the Park’, while the dynamic ‘Push’ entertains some more angular melodies and ‘Ind i det Azurblå’ has him doing some gentle chord work, mostly keeping it low-key. Fellow Danish trumpeter Kasper Tranberg also makes a guest appearance on the track ‘Calystegia’, offering some nicely melodic bebop-style playing over the otherwise eerie-leaning tune.

One thing often missing from folks inspired by the moody sounds of other Nordic jazz, that these three seem to excel at, is groove – and man, do these guys have it in spades. While the rhythm section of Rasmussen and (Lasse) Jacobsen certainly do a lot of the heavy lifting, Nørholm keeps himself plenty rooted to the rhythm as well, rather than drifting off into piano solo land. Throughout the trio’s nine original compositions we get a crystal-clear sense of their collective musical leanings; you’ve got nigh-telepathic interplay, unabashedly lyrical melodies and playful chord progressions with all the assuredness of a trio that have been making music for much longer than they actually have. Sitting nicely at an intersection of the cinematic minimalism of Scandinavian jazz and dynamic contemporary sounds of the American East Coast scene, if Little North’s past efforts didn’t already have them on your radar, then Familiar Places will place them squarely in your sight as a band to be watching.