Stian Carstensen ~ Backwards Into The Backwoods
Knowing Carstensen
from Farmers Market and spying a sharpshootin’ cowboy on the cd cover
leads to expectations of something like a jazz/folk take on bluegrass. The
reality turns out to be stranger still. Admittedly, hillbilly elements can
be spied on ‘What’s That Horsehead Doing On My Pillow’ and
‘(Look Grandpa!) Buckwheats On Bogweed’, the latter being a trio
for banjo, percussion and piano, but ‘See Fair Lis’ is an opportunity
for Arve Henriksen to deploy his choirboy falsetto to trill fa-la-laaas which
when accompanied by spinet produces an effect that’s distinctly medieval.
At times proceedings border on the frankly crazed, like a younger Bill Frissell
subjected to a large dose of hallucinogens, while at other times the mellower
pieces recall the generosity of Penguin Café Orchestra. Far eastern,
eastern European, deep Southern, far northern – Backwards Into The Backwoods
manages simultaneously to wander way off the beaten track and to trip round
most points of the compass to singular effect. From each place Carstensen
appears to have added to a musical smorgasbord whose unifying element is the
sound of his accordion which appears halfway through proceedings in five short
solo improvisations.
Colin Buttimer
April 2004