Audiopile Review: The second of two must-hear albums from Norwegian imprint Smalltown Supersound this week is a new collab between the famed trumpeter and ECM heavyweight Arve Henriksen, who teams up with Estonian guitarist Robert Jürjendal. A constant point of reference here at Audiopile HQ is Jon Hassell, his groundbreaking invention of fourth world in the late ‘70s hangs heavy on so much of contemporary ambient, jazz and electronic. While acts like Roméo Poirier, Ramzi and so many others have taken bits and pieces of Hassell’s introspective vistas, Henriksen and Jürjendal run headlong into it. Hassell’s central use of trumpet might be what jumps out as the most obvious apples to apples comparison, Henriksen’s billowy exhalations that can suddenly turn to the dramatic seem to be direct nods to the master. But it’s the intriguing mesh of eerie electronics and Jürjendal’s Frippertronics of looped and processed guitar that really push this into a zone of direct homage. Further amplifying the Hassell-ian connection, the duo look beyond the West for musical inspiration, incorporating gamelan percussion and looping kalimbas to help push along their slow-mo plumes of ambient-jazz and ethereal FX. At almost 50 years on from its inception, the Fourth World aesthetic still retains its magnetic pull. Edition of 300.

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Prolific Norwegian trumpeter and ECM veteran Arve Henriksen returns with Estonian guitarist/composer Robert Jürjendal in tow, matching his idiosyncratic shakuhachi-style melodic condensations with Jürjendal’s glassy electro-acoustic soundscapes and sonorous percussion. Fans of Jon Hassell & Brian Eno, Daniel Schmidt and Badalamenti, this one’s for you ✨

Henriksen releases a lot but is remarkably reliable; his playing is so versatile that hearing it dematerialise into different ensembles and individual methodologies is always a treat. Jürjendal is a veteran guitarist, but doesn’t approach his instrument from a purely classical standpoint, taking a Fripp-inspired path towards texture, processing and looping his sounds until they’re barely recognisable. The duo share a similar love for Hassell’s Fourth World ambience, and here inject new life into that mood.

Jürjendal’s percussion is impressive: he offsets cascades of oddly-tuned electronics on ‘Tuonela’ with booming, ritualistic tom hits that punctuate Henriksen’s melancholy phrases; and on the brilliant ‘Ancient Bells’, plays a set of gongs and gamelan-style instruments, creating swirling hammered tonal clusters that quiver beneath Henriksen’s echoed-out, spirited improvisations. It’s not always that corporeal, either; on ‘A Remarkable Flow’, he loops guitar phrases, creating gentle vibrations that rumble in the background while he mirrors Henriksen’s pitchy zig-zags with high-pitched oscillator vamps.

Even on the peaceable ‘Miraculous Lake’, discreet kalimba loops set a celestial tempo that anchors the duo’s gaseous soundscapes. And although they veer towards end-credits loveliness on the Göttsching-influenced ‘Reunion Hymn’, it’s balanced by the album’s darker passages, like ‘Rebirth’ and ‘Another Me’. On the latter, Henriksen’s trumpet is transformed into a voice-like warble, while Jürjendal replies with glacial E-bowed drones that resonate creepily alongside his lysergic FM pads.