Radikal Duke
Mógil : Ró (ICE/B,2010)****
Mógil is an Icelandic/Belgian cooperation consisting of Heiða Árnadóttir as the lead vocalist, Ananta Roosens on violin, Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet and bass clarinet and Hilmar Jensson on electrified acoustic guitar.
The ensemble beautifully combines traditional classical melodic and close harmony elements with improvised and also a few sound-sensitive ideas. In this way they show themselves as an attractive, vivid and creative band which succeeds in letting even some free explorations participate in the background as part of the compositions evolving with variations over several parts, from the 8th track until the last, 12th track for instance : on “Hopp” (10) the clarinet uses a clever idea of letting the knobs speak rhythmically. On the next track this rhythmical sound experiment leads to a thumbpiano-like tension taken over by several plucked instruments and some fast breathing ideas, while a folkier song plays in another layer. Then, on the last track the guitar uses comparable rhythmical pulses, as strange experiments with the electricity contact, while improvisations, on the same guitar, violin and clarinet leads the composition.
The lead vocalist clearly is a classically trained vocalist with a nice range in singing who adds also second layers with her voice with beautiful classical harmonies. Every musician, far from being academic has his own independence, with a more or less freely improvising and whenever made possible with a certain breathing rhythm of its own, while always consciously dealing with the group harmony and with the harmonious interactions and dialogues, and while keeping the compositions within reach of a classical approach. These abilities makes the music intelligent and creative within their harmonious setting, in a way this result can’t be programmed into a written composition alone. Sometimes the colourfulness and filmic attractiveness comes near to that of let’s say a Yann Thierssen, but further away from the minimalism and with more freedom and the already mentioned inner creativity. This is the best combination of ethereal Icelandic flavours mixed with classical ideas and improvised (let’s say) jazz, with the outcome of a chamber ensemble with a classical vocalist. Highly recommended !
