The Irish Times - original article

CD REVIEW
In The Country: This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat
By JIM CARROL


It is questionable if there are enough hours in the day for Norwegian musician Morten Qvenild to keep track of all his musical hats. Besides aiding and abetting Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, The National Bank, Jaga Jazzist, The Shining and Solveig Slettahjell, Qvenild's latest outing is fronting a piano trio who specialise in sparse, hushed sounds. Throughout this sturdy, likeable debut album, the pace is languid and unhurried, all the better for Qvenild's trio to investigate what can be achieved by widening and deepening the space between the notes. Despite the accent on minimalism throughout, there is a richness and a shine to how the trio operate, demonstrated most clearly in the streamlining of Ryan Adams's In my Time of Need into a gentle jazz-kissed anthem for the small hours that could have been touched by the hands of Bill Evans.


Published : 01.06.2005