Maria Kannegaard Trio - Sand i en vik (2020) Hi Res

Maria Kannegaard presents "Sand i en vik", a rapid follow-up to the album "Nådeslås". Where that latter album was an experimental and expressive affair, the former sees her return to more familiar musical pastures, although with a different viewpoint and attitude. Kannegaard's piano playing remains immaculate, never cluttered or wasteful, always conveying the right mood or emotion, the perfectly balanced response to both the composition and the development of it.

The album opening - "1-2-3" - literally crashes in, and then we are met by strong melody, quick-change artistry in time and tempo, extended playing techniques, expressionistic soloing, complex minimalism (but not minimal complexity) and a full array of compositional trickery and sleights of hand across the album's 13 tracks. The other two thirds of her trio, Ole Morten Vågan and Thomas Stronen operate as though sharing a single mind. They are capable of casual looseness or tense inch-perfect interplay, each laden with an armory of techniques they sparingly pepper their playing with, often fulfilling the listener's expectations, but just as frequently defying them with unexpected but always welcome results.

The compositions carry their own moods and unique characteristics, their own internal tensions, sometimes haunting, sometimes exuberant, sometimes seeming stretched to a breaking point. Plantive ballads sit alongside riff-driven stompers, moments of abstract expressionism interweave with stop-start angular motifs, unexpected harmonizations, and moments that seem to be formless before revealing themselves to be details within a larger, clearer picture.

Frequently sounding like much more than a trio, the album is mixed and mastered by the award-winning Stefano Amerio at Artesuono recording studios.

Maria Kannegaard's musical personality has always been multifaceted, catching and reflecting the light, even through shadows. "Sand i en vik" is the work of an artist who has taken difficulty and adversity and transmuted it into lavish creativity.