The engineer said, „I don’t have to listen to this. I’ll put it in Record, and then I’m leaving. When you’re done, come get me.
This is what Lou Reed remembered about the long improvisation of „Sister Ray“. A kind of music where a lot of people rather quickly seemed to look for an „escape route“. Nowadays it is regarded as a classic in the field of „psycedelic drone music“, a tradition that the three Norwegians of „Lumen Drones“ pick up on their first official release on ECM (to be released next Monday). Nils Okland plays fiddles (acoustic, pure, electrified, distorted). Per Steinar Lie plays guitars, and Orjan Haaland drums. Their pieces grow out of free improvisations, and some conceptual approach to analysing rhythms. Part of the work must have been to distill the treasures, to find a structure for tracks that reveal a strong affinity to the middle of nowhere – a clearly defined geography is not a reliable companion here. These fields of energy are sequenced in the most effective way so that every listener with a knack for richly textured sounds and airy soundscapes probably likes to follow the paths they create. It’s pure joy to hear the Hardanger fiddle in such vibrant and rough surroundings Echoes ring a distant bell from time to time: the ritual drumming of „Faust“, John Cale’s viola and guitar improvisations with Terry Riley, ancient Nordic folk, hinterland wilderness. The territory of huskies (look at the cover!). A truely fresh-sounding power trio that knows how to let all power fall – and thereby guarantees an immersive experience of the deeper kind! And the engineer, Kjetil Ulland, surely didn’t miss a second!