Nineteen Eighty-Two Chromola

'Chromola' by 1982 - the trio of Nils kland, Sigbjrn Apeland and yvind Skarb - marks the group's tenth anniversary and represents a return to the essential identity of the trio playing alone, without guests. What's especially distinctive about 1982 apart from the unusual instrumentation of violin or Hardanger fiddle, harmonium and drums, is the empathy displayed by the group as a whole; the hyper-sensitivity with which each individual member appears to respond to the contributions of the others in the pursuit of a collective goal. Such extreme alertness to subtle changes of mood and nuance, and to the evolving sound-world of each, totally improvised, performance is rare in music of any type. 1982 have made it their signature. As an album it is remarkable for many things, but perhaps most notably for the role of Sigbjorn Apeland, who plays pipe organ on all but one of the seven tracks rather than harmonium. While one might have expected the use of the organ to create a more liturgical or contemplative feel to the overall sound, the effect is much closer to prog-rock than it is to the church. Apeland's ghostly wails, drones and ornamental flourishes carry echoes of early Pink Floyd, accentuated by drummer Skarbo's occasional use of timpani-beaters, and heavy, unapologetically meaty pulse, or recall the proggish minimalism of Terry Riley and John Cale. kland's fiddling appears to take on a new, emphatically bluesy quality. At times, playing like a man possessed, his long, arabesque, Eastern-oriented lines can seem to go on and on, reaching peak after peak, as if to demonstrate his unequalled virtuosity as a soloist, whatever the musical setting.