Bio


The new orphans of modern jazz from Norway!


In The Country is the jazz outfit that seems impossible to decide to which musical world it belongs. Is it jazz or is it just plain music that contains inspiration from a lot of different fantastic genres?

Throughout almost a decade In The Country has been a sigificant voice on the scene as the piano trio that doesn´t pay attetion to the traditional genre limits. Morten Qvenild is probably best known for being the orchestra in Susanna and the Magical Orchestra but has plenty more to show for. He has been a member of both Shining and Jaga Jazzist and is since long a member of National Bank, Space Monkey and Solveig Slettahjells Slow Motion Orchestra and her latest duo project on Universal. He formed In The Country with Ballrogg- and Chrome Hill-bass player Roger Arntzen and Christer Knutsen-drummer Pål Hausken at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo in 2003. Since then they have been selected best young jazz artists in Norway, played concerts in Europe, USA and Asia and released four albums and two DVDs on the prestigeous Rune Grammofon label (”Sounds and Sights in 2011, "ABC" in 2010, ”Whiteout” in 2008, "Losing Stones, Collecting Bones" in 2006 and This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat” in 2004) to much critical acclaim. Downbeat called their debut album ”one of the finest and most arresting albums to come out of Europe” that year, and their latest studio album ”Whiteout" was voted the ”best releases of 2009” by L.A.Times, All About Jazz, the Swedish Lira, the Norwegian national news paper Dagens Naerlingsliv and the Turkish Undomundo.

"There is something serene about the way In the Country's music motions through the record's pieces; like the air from room to room. And these rooms are indeed translucent, or open to one another: In the Country's focus is on incorporating and expressing disparate influences and expressions. -More important than technical virtuosity or spellbinding musical features is the effortless, tranquil sweeps that melts the pieces and refine the music into glass."
- by Listen to Norway, 2011.

"Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country´s previous album "Whiteout" was an artistic triumph. Always a very powerful and exciting live act, it was only natural that a concert album should come at this stage of their career, after three studio albums and a number of Norwegian, European and US tours. Here it is, and the words about "Whiteout" also applies to "Sounds and Sights". You get selections from all studio albums, two new tracks and a sublime interpretation of Mark Knopfler´s classic "Brothers In Arms", all recorded in concert in October 2010. As a bonus you get a stunning hour long art / concert film on dvd, and we don´t hesitate to call it one of the finest music films ever produced in Norway. Tarkovsky-like dream sequences and abstract art visuals go hand in hand with multi camera concert footage from the same shows as the cd. Directed by Claus Arthur Breda-Gulbrandsen."
- by Rune Grammofon, 2011.

And as all Rune Grammofon recordings it´s a high quality product release with both LP and CD in addition to the DVD, with a spectacular booklet and cover design by Kim Hiorthøy.


[last updated: 03.03.12 ]