Album Review:

Jaga Jazzist
One Armed Bandit
Release Date: 25/01/10


In the five years since Jaga’s last LP, What We Must, no band has come close to imitating their sound: schizophrenic progressive electro-jazz with added drum and bass, post-rock, minimalism… and just about every other genre around. The Norwegian collective has defied expectations with One-Armed Bandit – and turned its own style on its head once again. WWM was edgier and placed emphasis on live instrumentation over electronic bleeps and beats, whilst OAB finds a happy medium; in the title track driving drums, cascading horns and a medieval-sounding kalimba interact with a fuzzy synth bassline and psychedelic electronic screeches. As the arpeggiated melody effortlessly passes between instruments, the piece showcases the dazzling array of styles Jaga have swallowed up – drummer and bandleader Lars Horntveth cites Fela Kuti, Wagner and Frank Zappa as heavy influences. Recognisable Jaga textures and timbres are refreshed by an expanded musical repertoire – the grungy synths and glassy, Steve Reich-esque polyrhythms that begin 'Toccata' are later underpinned by a powerful brass refrain and energetic afrobeat drums.

The experimental jazz-rock influence is perhaps most obvious; the title track takes a gasp of breath with an atmospheric guitar slide before launching back into staccato glockenspiel and oozing bass, evoking Zappa’s 'I’m the Slime'. The piece thuds and gallops into a bridge that significantly ups the tempo, racing at breakneck speed towards a thundering climax in which the pass-the-parcel melodies collide in a satisfying and awe-inspiring way. Another highlight is the slow-burning '220 V / Spektral', which opens with a delicate piano trill and muted guitar, immediately shifting to a tense 3/4 section, all reverb and breathy woodwind, before a spacey krautrock chorus. 'Music! Dance! Drama!' recalls 2002’s 'Day', with analog beats, bassline and string plucks mutated by twisted brass, labyrinthine harpsichord and affected guitar.

Jaga Jazzist leads the listener on a tantalising journey through space and time – at times to a completely new, undiscovered planet. It takes a few attempts to keep up with the hundreds of ideas thrown into the album, and it is the sheer ambition poured into each track that will, I suspect, divide audiences. One-Armed Bandit is, like Jaga Jazzist’s earlier work, a musical feast – but as a result it is eccentric and boundary breaking, and its constant framework of excitement-tension-release into further excitement may be unpopular with many. Those who appreciate it will learn to love the album and return, time and time again – finding new dimensions to every track on each occasion.

9/10

By Bengee Gibson