Introducing an artist is one thing. Giving the newcomer a double album to begin with (one bearing no title incidentally) and adorning the artwork with pictures of the artist by one of the great music photographers in Anton Corbijn makes for a considerable leap of faith.
More than rewarding this level of commitment Mette Henriette, a Norwegian saxophonist of Sámi heritage from Trondheim, is discovered lost in the brooding quietude of her piano/cello/sax trio on the first of the CDs and within a 13-player ensemble on the second.
It’s an intimate world. The first CD glacial and so softly murmuring, piano pacing out the direction of the pieces, many of them tantalisingly brief with titles that hint and prod at some unfathomable intensity (‘The taboo’, ‘A Void’ ‘I do’).
Severe yes but not stiflingly so, the challenge is in the strain to listen, like a conversation you can’t quite catch but desperately want to know every single word of, the subtleties and unfolding mood there for the grasping. On ‘3-4-5’ for instance there’s an incredibly sad saxophone beginning that could be a folk song, could be an elegy, tapping some mysterious force only Henriette seems to know is out there and the results, all delivered in under two minutes, stay with you, their impact considerable.
There’s more than enough on the first CD to make this a great success but the second CD with the strings of the Cikada Quartet, bandoneon, horns and more joining her provide more clues as to Henriette’s original method and coherent compositional ideas. The pieces are generally longer here, the arranging again taut and once more very imaginative.
The sense of control is powerful and despite the added numbers of musicians this is still an incredibly quiet record, everything seems played down and stripped back to raw materials, only the occasional exuberance say on the squally ‘Late à la Carte’ or braying ‘True’ poking through, Henriette shows off her powerful instrumental vision on the combustibly robust ‘I’.
A remarkable release with some very fresh ideas contained within it and above all an atmosphere that sets Henriette’s free jazz-inclined playing apart from anything you’re likely to hear anywhere at the moment.
Released on 6 November