For the Middle Class

Huntsville is in fact No Spaghetti Edition without the extra musicians, yet it sounds like the complete opposite of Ivar Grydeland, Tonny Kluften and Ingar Zach's free improvisation collective. Followers of the Norwegian guitarist, bassist and percussionist are in for quite a surprise with For the Middle Class, their debut. Forget No Spaghetti Edition, the HISS quartet, and Grydeland and Zach's duo albums — Huntsville sounds nothing like them. In fact, this trio is very similar to the Necks. No kidding. For the Middle Class contains two long tracks that develop gradually over repetitive motives. In "The Appearance of a Wise Child," Kluften's double bass ostinato mimics one of Lloyd Swanton's signature anchors for the Necks' long flights. In "Add a Key of Humanity," it's Zach's locomotive-like snare drum rhythm relentlessly pushing the piece to gain momentum. Sure, the instrumentation differs slightly: Zach uses loop boxes in addition to minimal percussion; Grydeland's noise guitar, banjo and pedal steel guitar are sent through looping devices. If Huntsville's music is noisier and a bit more chaotic than the Necks', the basic recipe remains the same: slow-developing abstract material played over simple evolutive grooves. If the similarity is impossible to miss, it does not mean that For the Middle Class does not have its own peculiar charm; on the contrary. These three musicians are very talented improvisers, and they approach this form from a different angle, packing it with extended playing techniques and odd sounds. Highly recommended. ~ François Couture, Rovi