CD ECM Records Iro Haarla: Northbound

2005

Iro Haarla - pian, harpa
Mathias Eick - trompeta
Trygve Seim - saxofoane
Uffe Krokfors - contrabas
Jon Christensen - tobe

On her leader debut for ECM, Finnish pianist-harpist-composer Iro Haarla unveils a strong and responsive new band that pools some very significant talents... and some strikingly original compositions written in a harmonic language that will stir powerful associations for followers of music from the North.

Nordische Musik online, CD des Monats

Further, closer listens uncover the unique beauties of Haarla’s music, which sits at that mystical point halfway between improv and composition. “Barcarole” has one of those folky tunes that seems to have been around for years, just waiting for someone to pluck it from the air. Other pieces offer the barest wisps of melody, relying on the group’s ability to generate structure spontaneously. Haarla’s approach to the piano has the weightless, displaced qualities of Paul Bley, while her harp brings a delicate romanticism to the proceedings. … Seim’s blurry, slurred soprano curls are also gorgeously expressive, and a good foil for Eick’s pure toned excursions. … Eick constructs logical, probing solos that hang in the spaces left by the rest of the group. Christensen and Krokfors … never turn up the heat too much, they generate enough momentum to coax the frontline into some gorgeous performances. Let’s hope we get to hear more from them…
Peter Marsh, BBC

Composer/pianist/harpist Iro Haarla played a crucial part in the ground-breaking music of her late husband, Edward Vesala. This colours, in part, Northbound, a lovely, melancholy album, though Haarla’s approach to actual performance is, perhaps, more collaborative. she strikes a fine balance between the written and improvised; both inside and outside, the music’s spacious but controlled feel is surely hers. Bringing out the lyrical qualities of these slow, mournful pieces is the passionately engaged work of Trygve Seim and Matthias Eick … Bassist Uffe Krokfors and drummer Jon Christensen also dialogue superbly in a group whose openness, mutual responsiveness and dynamics are remarkable.
Ray Cominsky, Irish Times

Northbound might appear on the surface to be veering more toward the ambient soundscape but the quality of the playing ensures that this is a thought-provoking and stimulating set that will probably be lurking in my year-end list.
Hugh Gregory, Jazz Review