Elephant9 — Mythical River
Mythical River is the ninth studio album from Norwegian fusion/ prog trio Elephant9. It’s a rewardingly varied eight-track affair, which sees the band shifting between floating ambience, more propulsive & urgent, the groovy ‘n’ cascading, and more angular 'n' trippy.
The release appears on the always worth/ interesting Rune Grammofon- with the CD being presented in a four-panel card digipak, which features a selection of blue and grey geometrical boxes. The album is also available in vinyl- coming as either a Ltd clear edition or a standard edition
Elephant9 where formed in Oslo in the year 2006. The three-piece band brings together percussionist Torstein Lofthus, bass player Nikolai Hængsle, and keyboardist Ståle Storløkken- who for this album has an impressive selection of kit taking in a Hammond L100, Fender Rhodes, Minimoog, ARP Pro Soloist, Grand Piano, Harpsipiano, Celeste, Mellotron, and Continuum- which he uses to great effect.
The album opens and closes with two around one minute forty ambient pieces entitled Solitude In Limbo #2 & #1 - which work as great sonic pallet cleansers with their gentle warbling, glowing, and stretching tones.
Moving into the album we go from the steady rhythmic pulse, moodily regal lead organ, and tight bass line of the title track- which as it progresses adds in subtle touches of cascading electro harp tones, swirling pitches, overlaid organ climbs, and more harmonic breakdowns.
There's“The Chamber Of Silence” which opens with just gentle darting keys & lullingly bounding bass- as it progresses we hear growing percussive detail nicely shimmering/ building in the background, though this is never let to fully develop. And we have propulsive “Star Cluster Detective” with its upfront angular to lightly grating keys, and tight bass & percussive joinings.
Mythical River is a true/proper album release taking the listener on a rewarding & varied journey into fusion/ prog crossbreeding. The three players perfectly complement each other in their mood, tone, and atmosphere- there seems little or no ego here, with the band wanting to just build a great ride of an album.