The Tronosonic Experience - The Tronosonic Experience (2017)

Product Description
The Norwegian quartet The Tronosonic Experience are releasing their eponymous debut album. The album was recorded live in three intense December days at Ocean Sound Recordings, a studio located literally on brink of the Atlantic Ocean on the remote island of Giske on the western coast of Norway.

The Tronosonic Experience represents a departure from Losen Records rooster of jazz artists, and is a powerful outing of instrumental rock. The band describes their music as punk-jazzavant- rock, and is inspired by artists as diverse as Ornette Coleman and Black Sabbath, John Coltrane and King Crimson, Cecil Taylor and Terje Rypdal. The Tronosonic Experience's drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad and bassist Per Harald Ottesen lay Down a strong foundation of rock riffing over which the saxophonist Ole Jørgen Bardal and guitarist Øyvind Nypan improvise freely.

The mood of the album is varied, and was strongly affected by the huge waves of the ocean and the sheer force of the winter storms raging outside the recording studio's windows. The music ranges from the fast paced and hard-hitting tracks Die Streif and The Crossing, via the slowly evolving thunder of Maelstrom and A Quiet Flame, to the quieter vibes of No Country for Young Men and Light as a Feather, Heavy as a Lead Balloon. The closer, Catching the Nile Perch, nicely sums up the album.

Review
Norwegian quartet The Tronosonic Experience describes the music on their debut as ''punk-jazz-avant-rock,'' which about covers it. Opener ''Die Streif'' comes storming in with a heavy bass line and an emphasis on the rock end of the spectrum, including blazing distorted guitar from Oyvind Nypan. It shows a completely different side of his playing from his recent modern jazz date Stereotomic (Losen Records, 2017).

''Maelstrom'' (the only song composed collectively instead of by bassist Per Harald Ottesen) develops more gradually but it builds to outside, energy playing from saxophonist Ole Jørgan Bardal and more rock (this time with wah-wah pedal) from Nypan. Quieter, more deliberate tunes like ''No Country for Young Men'' and ''Light as a Feather, Heavy as a Lead Balloon'' place more focus on Bardal's saxophone playing, while also giving Nypan a space for more reflective guitar work.

The trio introduction to ''A Quiet Flame'' could be an ECM track (perhaps by Jakob Bro or Bill Frisell): things heat up a bit with the saxophone entry, but the piece remains melody-driven, even during the fiery simultaneous guitar and saxophone solos. The closer ''Catching The Nile Perch'' again finds the band blending rock and jazz, with drummer Iver Loe Bjørnstad kicking things along in partnership with Ottersen's bass . The entire album is a wonderful blast of energy, reminiscent of some of fellow Norwegian Terje Rypdal's most direct ECM albums. Mark Sullivan --Allaboutjazz.com

Tracklist:
01. The Tronosonic Experience - Die Streif (3:49)
02. The Tronosonic Experience - Maelstrom (4:50)
03. The Tronosonic Experience - No Country for Young Men (3:53)
04. The Tronosonic Experience - Lights as a Feather, Heavy as a Lead Balloon (4:13)
05. The Tronosonic Experience - The Crossing (5:21)
06. The Tronosonic Experience - A Quiet Flame (6:48)
07. The Tronosonic Experience - Catching the Nile Perch (5:59)