ECM 274 3228
Mathias Eick (t), Tore Brunborg (t), Andreas Ulvo (p), Morten Qvenild (kys), Audun Erlien (b), Gard Nilssen, Torstein Lofthus (d) and Sidsel Walstad (harp). Rec. 2010

With this, his second album for the ECM label, Mathias Eick opts for a more equivocal approach than 2008’s The Door. Skala emerges as a logical extension of his earlier album, indeed the opening of the title track seems directly descended from the acoustic poise of pieces like ‘Porvoo’ or ‘The Door’, but here the musical backdrop is painted in broader brush strokes, such as the svelte electronics of Qvenild’s keyboards, so offering subtle refractions of late-1960s jazz-rock viewed through the prism of Eick’s questing musical curiosity.

The double drum line-up could easily be overwhelming, leaving little room for the kind of subtlety and elegant melodicism that has come to characterise Eick’s playing on albums by Manu Katché and Iro Haarla yet both Lofthus and Nilssen’s watchword is co-operation rather than competition, aware as much of the rhythmic function as the colouristic potential two drummers can offer. But it is Eick (and Brunborg on the title track and ‘Day After’) who shine, giving ample evidence of why he is so highly regarded in his native Norway with solos that possess poise and imagination.

Stuart Nicholson