Olli Hirvonen – Displace – [TrackList follows] – Ropeadope 499, 47:1 ****:
Guitar fans need to listen to Finnish-born, Brooklyn-based Olli Hirvonen’s third album as a leader, the 47-minute Displace. Hirvonen’s wide-ranging material balances his influences, including fellow guitarists such as Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Ralph Towner and Larry Coryell; saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Matt Mitchell; and musical inspirations which span from bost-bop to prog-rock and on to noise-rock. It’s all here, in various guises and elements, melded rather than being disparate. Hirvonen admits, “I started finally accepting my different influences from back in the day. I wasn’t consciously trying to combine everything. I was more just accepting what is already there.”
Hirvonen’s experience comprises studying classical guitar and then jazz guitar; an abiding interest in hard rockers Deep Purple; undergraduate work at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy; and a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. Along the way he formed an avant-metal-jazz group, did solo shows, had membership in Brian Krock’s large ensemble jazz band Big Heart Machine, and shared stages with likeminded artists. Hirvonen’s quartet is up to the task of performing Hirvonen’s multi-tiered compositions. Supporting Hirvonen is pianist Luke Marantz (he’s played with Christian McBride, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Tierney Sutton and Antonio Hart); bassist Marty Kenney; and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell. All three were also featured on Hirvonen’s previous release, 2017’s New Helsinki.
Displace opens with the frenzied “No Light,” which initiates with Marantz’s rumbling acoustic piano; the band then quickly heads into electro-acoustic fusion terrain. It’s stimulating to hear Hirvonen’s electric energy sitting alongside the acoustic instruments. Things get pungent on the 11-minute title track, where the lengthy arrangement nods toward postrock and avant-rock, particularly during Hirvonen’s extended soloing which suggests his hard rock heroes. But the pyrotechnics wouldn’t mean so much if not for the rhythmic contrast offered by Kenney, Marantz and Ellman-Bell. The piece takes a different declination when Marantz swoops over his piano keyboard and supplies a chromatic improvisation. There’s even an ambient section near the eight-minute mark, before the riffing guitar comes back.
On the flip side is “Nondescript,” which starts out noir-ish; Hirvonen focuses on single-note phrases on his Fender Jazzmaster guitar, which sounds like the jazzier aspect of Wilco’s Nels Cline, another Jazzmaster owner. Again, the rhythmic foundation is stunning as Ellman-Bell presents drum patterns which are mutable and flexible. As “Nondescript” progresses the mood changes to something modernistic and even forbidding, especially when Marantz does a Keith Jarrett-like impression as Hirvonen riffs behind him. Hirvonen’s ability to layer incongruent bits into an audio mesh are spotlighted on two numbers. The eight-minute “Size Constancy” comingles prog-rock’s softer side with a blues-tinted jazz arrangement which includes a tricky time signature, ostinato passages and a repetitive motif which creates a minimalist rhythmic scope. The 7:44 “Tactile” is equally absorbing with more minimalist mastery trussed by a funk-rock grounding and a fusion-esque rhythmic substratum. When the cut switches temporarily to just piano, bass and drums there is a palpable groove. When Hirvonen takes the limelight, guitar aficionados will pay attention. Towner’s inspiration can be felt on the all-acoustic pastoral “Unravel,” where Hirvonen concentrates on acoustic-guitar fingerpicking and exhibits a folk-filigreed style which has an Americana/Finnish proclivity, like prairie grass being swept by a chilling Northern European wind.
Performing Artists:
Olli Hirvonen – electric and acoustic guitar, producer; Luke Marantz – piano; Marty Kenney – bass; Nathan Ellman-Bell – drums
TrackList:
No Light
Displace
Nondescript
Size Constancy
Faction
Tactile
Unravel
—Doug Simpson
Olli Hirvonen Website
“Displace” album on Ropeadope
