Woolgathering
Is It Jazz?, 2022
8/10
An exciting jazz trio from Bergen, Norway, Datadyr embrace ideas from jazz’s past as well as current sounds, and they’re quite good at improvising as well.
“Tier” starts the listen with a very exciting version of jazz rock, where the swirling guitar and tumbling drums work together with much energy, and “Krystalldans” follows with a calmer approach of dreamy bouts that can find a warm intimacy, too, amid playful bass work.
“Daybreaking” and “FastUp” land in the middle, as the former recruits Ketil Moster’s strong sax prowess into the unpredictable climate, while the latter shimmers with a hint of Americana in the very dynamic album highlight. “Low Hanging Moon” exits the listen, and finds a bare place to reside initially, before flirting with the blues in a very spirited fashion.
A listen that was recorded with all players in the same room and very few overdubs, Datadyr have roots playing in bands like Kryptograf, Dreamarcher and Atari, among others, and they bring that experience to this exceptional debut.
Travels well with: Soft Ffog- Soft Ffog; Kosmodome- Kosmodome