Artist: Thomas Strønen
Album: Time Is A Blind Guide
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 2015
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 96 kHz
Duration: 52:55
Total Tracks: 11
Total Size: 984 MB

Tracklist:

01. Thomas Strønen – The Stone Carriers (06:47)
02. Thomas Strønen – Tide (01:30)
03. Thomas Strønen – Everything Disappears I (03:53)
04. Thomas Strønen – Pipa (04:55)
05. Thomas Strønen – I Don’t Wait For Anyone (06:44)
06. Thomas Strønen – The Drowned City (06:06)
07. Thomas Strønen – Lost Souls (06:16)
08. Thomas Strønen – Everything Disappears II (Ode to JT) (02:21)
09. Thomas Strønen – Time Is A Blind Guide (05:40)
10. Thomas Strønen – As We Wait For Time (05:19)
11. Thomas Strønen – Simples (03:19)

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“Time” is a guiding principle in any drummer’s ensemble, not least when it is subtly subdivided or extended as it is in this debut by Thomas Strønen’s acoustic group. The name derives from a literary source, “Time is a blind guide” being the first sentence in Canadian author Anne Michaels’s 1996 novel Fugitive Pieces.The band ‘Time Is A Blind Guide’ was formed rather spontaneously, following an invitation from UK broadcaster Fiona Talkington, an early supporter of the Strønen/Iain Ballamy group ‘Food’, who commissioned Thomas to write music for a combination of Norwegian and British musicians for Conexions, a concert series she was curating at Oslo’s Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene. Thomas Strønen: “We were talking about different musicians and she put forward some names – one of them was [pianist] Kit Downes, a very good recommendation – and I put forward some names. Then I wrote music for the ensemble and put the band together for the concert.

It went really well, and I realized right away that we couldn’t stop at this point. We needed to develop the music further, we needed to play more. I’d had no intention of starting a new band – at that point I was playing in loads of different groups – but the musical potential was so evident that we needed to pursue it. So I began to cut back on other activities, making ‘Time Is A Blind Guide’ a priority, so we could get the music really strong and solid.”

The group played concerts over a two year period before going to the studio. The album Time Is A Blind Guide was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in July 2015, with Strønen and Sun Chung producing. The leader’s vision of a strongly melodic and energetic music underpinned by unorthodox time signatures and fluid rhythms is fully borne out. “I like that feeling of melodies so accessible you can sing them, yet it’s challenging to clap your hands or stamp your feet to the music.

It’s melodic music with a twist.” Thomas Strønen’s wide ranging compositions here include a melancholic drum piece, “Everything Disappears II (Ode to JT)”, the dedication being to John Taylor, with whom Thomas worked in the trio Meadow, with Tore Brunborg. “I could as easily have dedicated everything to John,” Strønen says. “He was such an inspiring and positive musician to be around.”

Time Is A Blind Guide is one of two ECM albums issued this season featuring the music of Thomas Strønen. The other is Food’s This Is Not A Miracle, which is released in November.