The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mollestad, Hedvig Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon)

The sixth album from guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen's scorching Norwegian instrumental rock trio, having built a strong following through their impressive approach to rock, schooled from both early hard/progressive band but also driving fusion bands, with a penetrating edge in authoritative soloing and intense rhythmic interplay.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen-guitar

Ellen Brekken-bass

Ivar Loe Bjornstad-drums


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UPC: 7033662022038

Label: Rune Grammofon
Catalog ID: RCD 2203CD
Squidco Product Code: 26876

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: Norway
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Amper Tone Studio, in Oslo, Norway, in June and August, 2018, by Johnny Skalleberg and Kim Lillestol.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"With Smells Funny being their sixth album in seven years, the explosive and expansive Hedvig Mollestad Trio have gone from strength to strength, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable in jazz and rock clubs.

Smells Funny sees Mollestad truly coming into her own as an amazing lead guitarist as well as a dependable riffmeister. Hedvig first picked up her mother's nylon-strung acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She translated a biography of Jimi Hendrix for a school project and was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present.

The members of the trio are from the districts, but Hedvig met Ellen Brekken and Ivar Loe Bjornstad at the Music Academy in Oslo. Hedvig asked them to join her after she received the Jazz Talent Of The Year Award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon; Shoot!"-Rune Grammofon



Also available on vinyl LP.

Artist Biographies

"Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen (born 4 February 1982 in Ålesund, Norway) is a Norwegian musician (guitar, vocals and composing). She is known for a series of album releases and collaborations with musicians like Jon Eberson, Jarle Bernhoft and Hilde Marie Kjersem.

Thomassen is a graduate from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and collaborates in a variety of rock and jazz bands, including her own Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Thomassen Trio, Bronco Busters, Songs and Sweet Potatoes, and VOM (as "Mester Pøggs"). She also has a central role in the bands of Jarle Bernhoft and Hilde Marie Kjersem, and has performed within Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Thomassen was awarded "The young jazz talent of the year" at Moldejazz in 2009, and showed up on a gig within Jarle Bernhoft Band at the 2011 Kongsberg Jazzfestival. When she released her debut solo album Shoot! (2011) leading her own trio, the music bears little resemblance to what she plays within Jon Eberson Group and the bands of Hilde Marie Kjersem and Jarle Bernhoft.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio (also referred to as HM3) consists of Hedvig Mollestad (guitar, vocals), Ellen Brekken (bass) and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (drums). The trio has received numerous appraising reviews internationally, for both their studio albums and live performances. Their music is inspired by 70s heavyrock, but creates a peculiar musical mixture of ingredients like free jazz, prog and psychedelia. On its website the band describes their own music as "Outgoing & progressive instrumental rock". Since the trio's formation in 2009, HM3 has played many concerts and jazz festivals in both Norway and abroad and they have toured in Europe, Malaysia, Japan and the USA."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedvig_Mollestad_Thomassen)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Ellen Brekken (born 20 June 1985) is a Norwegian jazz musician who plays upright bass, bass guitar, and the tuba.

Brekken was born in Tynset, Norway. She attended the Toneheim Folk High School in 2005, and completed a bachelor's degree in Improvised Music on the jazz program at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo from 2006 to 2010, including a period of exchange studies in Cape Town, South Africa. She is leading a 7-mans folk/jazz big band called Gruvar with co-composer Lars Jakop Rudjord and she has also led her own Ellen Brekken Quartet including Dag-Filip Roaldsnes (piano), Eskil Sæter (guitar) and Jon Audun Baar (drums). Brekken also collaborates within Hedvig Mollestad Trio including with Ivar Loe Bjørnstad, releasing the albums Shoot! (2011), All of Them Witches (2013), "Enfant Terrible" (2014), Black Stabat Mater (2016) and the live album Evil in Oslo (2016) . For the album "All of them witches" they were nominated to the Norwegian "Grammy" award in the rock category. She also plays in the band MAAR, which play Norwegian folk music and was nominated for Folkelarmprisen for their album "Vrangsvevd". She has been working a lot for Concerts Norway (Rikskonsertene), different theatres in Norway (Nationaltheatret, Folketeatret, Oslo Nye teater, Trøndelag teater) in addition to playing with musicians such as Espen Rud, Staffan William-Olsson, Frode Nymo, Bugge Wesseltoft, Frode Alnæs, Jens Wendelboe, Aasmund Nordstoga, Ine Hoem and she is currently a member of Caledonia jazzband and plays with artists such as, Lise Hvoslef and Kjetil Flatland. She also leads the band Du og jeg og vi 2 - 3 - 4, playing music for kids."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Brekken)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (born 1981 in Surnadal, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz and rock musician (drums), brother of the dancer Marit Loe Bjørnstad (1983) and the singer Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad (1978).

Bjørnstad studied jazz at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo together with Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen and Even Helte Hermansen (guitarist of Bushman's Revenge). With an origin as a rock musician, he also mentions the guitarist Bill Frisell as one of his inspirations, accompanied by the major Norwegian drummers Audun Kleive and Per Oddvar Johansen. He resides in Oslo, and has since the turn of the Millennium collaborated with countless bands and constellations in a variety of genres. He has collaborated with artists like Bjørn Kjellemyr, Jon Eberson, Karl Seglem, Ken Stringfellowcurrently, and currently (2013) play within the bands Hedvig Mollestad Trio, the Hilde Marie Kjersem Band and Cakewalk. The debut album Shoot! of the Hedvig Mollestad Trio was recorded live in the studio with only a few minor overdubs."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Loe_Bj%C3%B8rnstad)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Beastie, Beastie 5:55

2. First Thing To Pop Is The Eye 8:56

3. Jurasek 4:00

4. Sugar Rush Mountain 4:05

5. Bewitched, Dwarfed And Defeathered 4:39

6. Lucidness 8:13

Related Categories of Interest:


Rock and Related
Progressive Rock
Improvised Rock
Improvised Music
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Trio Recordings
New in Rock Forms

Search for other titles on the label:
Rune Grammofon.


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