Has it come to the point were if it’s not classical, not rock, not folk, not polka, it’s therefore “jazz”? That question has to be raised on this album by Jo Berger Myhre, who plays a variety of basses, amplifiers, drum machines and ‘various analogue electronics” as he teams with Kaveh Mahmudiyan/tombak, Jo David Meyer Lysne/ag, Jana Anisimova/p, Morten Qvenild/synth, OlafurJ Olaffson/org and Vivian Wang/narr. The result is bowed tribal strings on “Perils” which are NOT akin to Slam Stewart, sounds like hovering aircraft on “Smallest Things, Part 1” and general ambient shadows on “Smallest Things, Part 2” and a mix of piano and pulsating tapes on the indie “Aviary”. Instruments used to make sounds, but not necessarily music, per se.
Andras Halmos supplies the drums, percussion, clapping and vocals along with Erno Hock on bass and African stringed guembri, who also claps along to Adam Meszaros’ guitar on these ten dark and stormy originals. “Are we not men? We are Devo” seems to be the theme of the album with quirky dark and instrumentation on the percussive “Cerberus” and the PONGish “Minerva”. Metal overdrive is heard on “Shashka” with frenetic head banging during “Cornucopia” while a dash of The Kinks garage style rock is heard on “Thorn”. Abstract voices and base lines are heard on “Bebek” with chants on “Palaran”. Is there a music teacher rolling over in his grave?