Defeat

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On their seventh album – the first since 2018’s The Hands – the core trio is joined by two guest brass players – trumpeter Goran Kajfes and trombonist Mats Aleklint – for a neat, streamlined... — Jazzwise, March 2021, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Feb 2021
Catalogue No: RCD2217
Label: Rune Grammofon
Length: 36 minutes

Downbeat

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February 2021

Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin: A Random Belt. Rats You Out.

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Fire!

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Not the most optimistic title for pressing times, but the music sees Fire! tracking new paths and reaching new levels of excellence, still honoring their 12 year old vow of presenting a fresh approach to improvised music. Their debut album, You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago, was released in 2009 to wide international acclaim. “The basic strategy of pairing the expressive energy of free jazz with a sturdy sense of groove has yielded something potent and self-contained” (New York Times). Between this and Defeat there´s been five albums, including collaborations with Jim O´Rourke (Unreleased?, 2011) and Oren Ambarchi (In The Mouth A Hand, 2012).

No two Fire! records sound the same, but with Defeat they have taken their biggest leap so far, with Gustafsson giving the flute a prominent place in the sound image, a surprising and most successful move, his both expressive and ornamental approach given ample room to breathe, especially on the two long tracks bookending the album. In places more subdued than on previous efforts, but with the distinctive bass figures and hypnotic mood fully intact. There are some lively stretches with guests Goran Kajfes and Mats Aleklint, bringing to mind their big band offshoot Fire! Orchestra, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Reviews

March 2021

On their seventh album – the first since 2018’s The Hands – the core trio is joined by two guest brass players – trumpeter Goran Kajfes and trombonist Mats Aleklint – for a neat, streamlined set of jams that feels like a surprisingly mellow return to basic principles.

February 2021

There’s an almost Harold Alexander-like exuberance to his work here, though, rooted more in the European avant-garde than 1970s groove music. But the fact that Fire! can cover so much territory within the free-jazz context—and on such a regular basis—means that we’re not only likely to embark on new explorations with the troupe shortly, but we’ll also be encountering new vistas of sound along the way.

Defeat

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