CD Review: Chris Mapp - Stillefelt

Chris Mapp (bass/electronics); Percy Pursglove (trumpet); Thomas Seminar Ford (guitar/ electronics).

(Review  by Richard Waddington).

Chris Mapp has named this band Stillefelt, meaning 'Quiet Field' in Norwegian, to distinguish it from his apparently far more raucous band Gonimoblast.

While it may initially seem like ideal background music, it actually bears concentrated listening and is appropriately short to maintain interest throughout.

Jazzwise have described the band as 'ambient experimentation' and it's only the presence of the trumpet and the pedigree of the three band members which signpost it as jazz, together with a preponderance for free improvisation.

There are lots of sound effects and soundscapes, heavily featuring guitar pedals, coming in and out in waves, with Pursglove circular breathing, and the whole thing is at its best when his splendid trumpet sound takes centre stage, which it does periodically throughout the album, but the quieter moments, while standing on their own, also enhance the whole.

Whether it bears repeated listening remains to be seen as it isn't the sort of thing that generally interests me, but if the world reopens quite soon, I'm sufficiently interested to head to the Lescar in Sheffield on July 8 or Manchester's Whiskey Jar on the 20th to see how the whole thing works live. I've no doubt it would go down a storm in Newcastle.

Anybody for whom this really isn't their thing should maybe check out Gonimoblast.

The album's available from April 3 on digital download and limited CD. 

Richard Waddington.