Hans P. Kjorstad - Inn Hans P. Kjorstad

Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Hans P. Kjorstad debuts on Phantom Limb (following works with Sam Gendel and Ernst Reijseger) with new album Inn, a nuanced, lower case, orchestra-in-miniature full of curiosity, charm, and sensitive mastery of its form."

Kjorstad - a resident of Lillehammer, Norway - grew up playing folk music, adopting the fiddle from an early age and later finding his way to jazz, experimental music, and beyond. And despite offering a broad palette, the ghost of folk music, in its verisimilitude and organic hues, remains within the compositional framework of Inn. Here it is reduced to its bare elements by the alchemic introduction of microtonal synthesis, wonky looping, and playful oddities that shift in tonal personality over the duration of a piece.

Though a deeply subtle record, Inn is not as unassuming as its raw ingredients might imply. Kjorstad speaks of the record’s philosophy as “personal, but not self-conscious; hazy but not lazy; better to do it than to talk about it.” This curious modesty abounds throughout. Simple melodic lines lay and overlay in multicoloured combinations like the meeting of different waters, each a sweet trickle, sometimes cool like a Scandinavian forest stream and sometimes warm like spring air. Deep listening reveals a secret world of beauty, poetry, and colour.

“Routinely blurs lines between folk, jazz, free improvisation, experimental, and contemporary music. Impressive, elusive, superb. I’m never less than spellbound.” - The Quietus

“Just as likely to appeal to followers of classical, folk and improvised music as to the jazz fraternity…A deep listening experience. Enchanting.” - Jazz Journal