Nordso And Theill / Music For Dreams

There`s an essay by Lester Bangs where he states that it`s easier to write about something you don`t like than something you do. Easier to come up with pages of prose as you wrestle with imperfection. When something is perfect often all you can muster is “This is great! Go buy it!” Because its greatness is so obvious that it shouldn’t need explaining. Lester`s writing on The Stones up to Exile On Main Street would serve as example.

I have to agree. I don`t usually have time to write about stuff I don`t like, but maybe that`s why the music writing I do is so focused on context. The stories and histories of tracks and bands. Listing classic and seminal tunes that the one in question is worthy of rubbing shoulders with.

I`ve been lucky enough to have had this album by Nordso & Theill for a while. Played it and played it. Not feeling the need to change the soundtrack to my daily routine of taxi-ing kids about for weeks. The amount of music I usually consume is staggering. Around 20-25 CDs of data behind the wheel between Monday and Friday. Between school runs, football, basketball, and the dreaded Juku (study club). Nordso & Theill. I just left it in there. Let it go round and round as I went round and round. Six meditations for guitar, woodwinds and percussion. Mikkel Nordso & Ole Theill having previously been members of Bombay Hotel. Recording Phil Mison / Cafe Del Mar favourite Between Leaves.

Their playing, virtuoso is the only word for it. Guitar moving in flurries of notes. Seamlessly mixing Eastern drone, sitar-like Raga, and Flamenco. With a blistering electric solo on Velvet Sky. Think Jukka Tolonen`s Nights Of Ibiza in miniature. There are female harmonies that recall Speck Mountain. The beauty of Suarasama. Echoes of a beach at play somewhere in the distance. Bongos and tabla. Mahavishnu Orchestra`s When Blue Turns Gold. Painting images of fresh clear mornings. Listening, I see that cliche of white stucco Old Town walls framing azure skies and sea. When the music turns darker, it`s bedouin camps and Spanish caravans. Jansen Barbieri Takemura`s Children Gathering At The Lake.

This is great. Go buy it.