FRIGG: Oasis

FRIGG Oasis NorthSide 6086 / Frigg 00002

HARV Polka Raggioso NorthSide 6083

SWAP Du Da NorthSide 6085

If you think that Nordic bands are immune to outside influences, think again. These three new releases highlight the myriad ways in which music that is Scandinavian at the core has all manner of things going on around the edges.

Frigg is a Finnish band that features tandem fiddling; in its case as many as four at a time. Frigg serves immediate notice of its intent to mix things, leading with the schottische "Riverdance'" that would be at home at any Scottish ceilidh, except for the blaring saxophone. There are expected polkas scattered throughout, but also many unusual arrangements and unanticipated detours. "Toulpagorni," for example, is a polka, but one that opens to a Dobro rather than fiddles. Along the same lines, "Fantomen" is also ostensibly a polka, but it sounds more like cowboy jazz; and "Tepeq" works some fancy mandolin picking into a French-Canadian tune. Then there's "Maenpaan Heiki Valssi," which features Petri Prauda's primal Estonian bagpipes being choked like a goose in distress.

The Swedish quartet Harv play it equally loose to the vest. A favored technique is to build a theme, then allow fiddler Daniel Sanden-Warg to lift it to another level. They too like to shatter genre boundaries. "Direktor Deg" opens with near-classical guitar arpeggios from David Tallroth before settling into a quiet bridge, then allowing the tune to slide off into the midnight sun. Both "Sockertoj" and the title track have Cajun undertones, especially in the giddy accordion work from Magnus Stinnerbom. Perhaps most unusual of all is "Tosen," in which Sanden-Warg's fiddle evokes a sitar and the piece sounds vaguely Indian. Then again, maybe it's "Guttis,'" which comes off as if some Swedes got waylaid in Appalachia. The only thing that mars this fine effort is the redundancy of Christian Svensson's percussion: he needs to notice that his kit has more than a bass drum.

Ironically the most traditional of the three albums comes from the only band to have non-Nordic members, Swap. Both piano accordionist Karen Tweed and guitarist Ian Carr are based in Scotland, though this Nordic/Celtic brew measures out more Swedish gin than Scotch. That's not to say that they play it straight, however. "Midsommarvisa" is a ring dance, but it has a cafe feel. Swap seems to delight in odd arrangements. "Master Aslund" is the sort of thing a Parisian accordionist exiled to Stockholm might come up with, and "Blind Mattis Leken" uses plucked strings and sudden stops to enhance the drama of an otherwise straightforward piece. Even more unorthodox are the vocals of Carina Normansson. who sings with such attitude-laden insouciance you'd swear she was the Swedish Marlene Dietrich. As for tradition, check out "Ian's Javla Jig/Ian's Javla Polska." Both were penned by Carr, the Scotsman. But, of course.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Sing Out Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group