Elephant9 to release new live album with Norwegian guitar legend Terje Rypdal

(Image credit: Tord Litleskare)

Norwegian jazz prog trio Elephant9 have teamed with their country's legendary guitar player Terje Rypdal for a new double live album, Catching A Fire, which will be released through Rune Grammofon Records on October 25.

Catching A Fire was recorded at a 2017 concert in Oslo, the same year that local boy Rypdal turned 70 years old, and will be available as a double vinyl or CD release. You can see the new artwork and tracklisting below.

"David Fricke makes some interesting references to classic live albums in his liner notes, and we would like to add King Crimson's underrated USA and numerous Pink Floyd 1970 live bootlegs into the equation, sharing the common energy level and sense of untamed intensity," Rune Grammafon say of the new release. "That said, there are also stretches of calm at play here, especially in the 22-minute opener where Rypdal introduces himself with some trademark, glacier melodic lines. Rypdal is on fire throughout, adding some fierce rhythm work and abstract acrobatics from his toolbox.

"Ståle and Terje are sometimes so interlocked that it´s difficult to tell them apart. This is partly because the album is mixed to get a sense of being at the concert, by not overly trying to separate them, but primarily due to a common understanding stemming from Ståle being the guitarist´s “right hand” both in the studio and on stage for close to 30 years. Torstein and Nikolai is the most solid of rhythm sections, a well-oiled engine, finesse and power combined."

Elephant9, who will be featured in the next issue of Prog Magazine (on sale September 6), released their latest album, Mythical Rover, through Rune Grammafon earlier this year.

Pre-order Catching A Fire.

Elephant9 with Terje Rypdal: Catching A Fire
A1/1 I Cover The Mountain Top (22:18)
B1/2 Dodovoodoo (21:28)
C1/3 Psychedelic Backfire (12:37)
C2/4 John Tinnick (4:57)
D1/5 Fugl Fønix (10:42)

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.