Solveig Slettahjell - Tarpan Seasons (2010)

The addition of organ and guitar in no way affects Tarpan Seasons' appealing blend of the ethereal and the grounded. SMO still avoids anything resembling a fast clip, but it does thunder along more mightily in spots. Drummer Per Oddvar Johansen (The Source, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble) pushes the pulsing second half of "Your River" with some tribal toms, driving the first half of the same song with a gentle, balladic backbeat. Elsewhere he plays it soft and straight on the slightly off-kilter David Lynch-ian waltz of "December Song."

A key contributor to SMO's overall sound, hornist Sjur Miljeteig (Crimetime Orchestra, Hilde Marie Kjersem) is less plainly dominant in an expanded line-up that, other than Slettahjell's definitive voice, is more about collective sound rather than individuality. His layered horns create, along with Ulvo, Hermansen and and Qvenild, a lush backdrop for Slettahjell's velvety voice. As the primary songwriter, what gives her music its weight is a dynamic ebb and flow that, in lesser hands, would be handled with unnecessary bravado and melisma. Instead, Slettahjell impresses as much by what she doesn't sing as what she does. And on the brief, layered vocal feature of "You Go I Go," she proves as understated in the depth of her prose as she is her nuanced, ever- soulful delivery.

Departing from its jazzier roots into a kind of dreamy, subtly skewed pop music, Tarpan Seasons continues to work a concept that could be shtick, but in the hands of Slettahjell and Slow Motion Orchestra, has already proven its lasting value. With trace elements ranging from American roots music, singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits, and progressive pop fare like Sigur Rós—all refracted through a selfless Nordic prism—the warmly inviting but quirkily intriguing Tarpan Seasons is Slettahjell's most personal and fully realized album to date.