Written by:	Ivor
Published:	November 07, 2014
Event:	Hedvig Mollestad Trio
Location:	Sinilind, Tallinn, Estonia
Galleries:	Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Sinilind, Tallinn, Estonia, 25.10.2014 by Ivor (30)

The less you know, the better it is. This seems to be a recurring pattern with smaller gigs. It holds true that the lower your expectations are for a class act, the more room you have for a pleasant surprise. Even though I didn't go into this instrumental jazz-influenced rock night blindfolded, so to say, I wasn't nearly prepared for a concert this excellent.





I only found out about this concert by a chance e-mail from Hannes, the guy who organised Freak Kitchen gigs in May. That is a weighty argument to check out what's going on. However, Phlox as a support act on the list was the first to draw my attention. Back in 2009 they were one of the bands playing before Riverside. I remember unfortunately missing most of their set because of the interview and the little I did see needed way more attention to delve into than I had mind to spare at that moment.

I think in 2009 I didn't really get enough time to understand what I was hearing. Phlox don't play simple music for the idle mind. Ultimately it's an instrumental mix of jazz and progressive rock, but it's quite the opposite of boring as the simple summing approach might suggest. It's the changing, complex, and almost avant-garde song-structures that pose a listening challenge, lest you miss your cue. Sometimes you'll feel like a dog chasing its tail - almost but not quite catching up.





I think it speaks for the complexity of music when you see one of the players trying to relax their hand in-between the songs. With guitar, bass, drums, keys, and saxophone they sounded about as crowded as they looked on the small stage. There was barely room to set a foot down or squeeze another note in. People looked at them with awed expressions. Even the players of Hedvig Mollestad Trio were watching up close with radiant faces. It was a very intense and satisfying performance.

After a brief breather for the audience, Norwegians of Hedvig Mollestad Trio appeared to pose quite a contrast to Phlox. The first performance was more like a rocking jazz improvisation, heavy on saxophone, which made the Hedvig Mollestad Trio at first sound like just an ordinary power-rock trio. But that's just the initial contrasting impression speaking. I listened to their new album Enfant Terrible a week before the concert and was blown away by how complex and free-flowing a trio of guitar, bass and drums can sound. Listening to that album totally made my day and the decision about going to the gig easy.





Hedvig Mollestad Trio appeared modest congratulating Phlox on their performance. However, the fact is they themselves are as insanely good on stage. Simple in appearance as well as in sound at a glance, it's nowhere simple on a fundamental level. You can also call it a mix of jazz and rock, it appears like jazz songwriting in a heavy rock coating; free-flowing yet structured and purposeful.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio is a musical triangle that will keep your eyes moving from one player to another for the whole show. You just want to be looking at all of them at once up close, scrutinizing every note they play. While the drum kit is rather small, Ivar does plenty of complex drum patterns to keep you staring at his performance. Ellen's fingers are flying incredibly fast fingering the bass, be that the ordinary four-string or the contrabass. Hedvig's there with heavy and distorted guitar riffs as well as melodies to keep it all together. On the one hand there aren't many players to look at, but on the other hand there's so much going on, you just feel like you're missing something extraordinary while you look the other way.





What it basically boils down to, is that Hedvig Mollestad Trios performance needs more superlatives to describe it than I currently have at my disposal in my linguistic arsenal. I think I'm twice in love and have a man-crush to boot as a result of this gig. It's frankly ridiculous how good each of them are at what they do, how well they play together while appearing to be playing just their own instrument as if there's no one else around in a world of their own. That was simply stunning and mind-blowing.

Set list:
1. Laughing John (Enfant Terrible)
2. Code of Hammurabi (All of Them Witches)
3. For the Air (Shoot!)
4. Ashes (Shoot!)
5. Arigato, Bitch (Enfant Terrible)
6. Indian Driving (All of Them Witches)
7. The Rex (All of Them Witches)
8. Lake Acid (All of Them Witches)
9. The New Judas (All of Them Witches)
10. Sing, Goddess (All of Them Witches)
Encore:
11. Gun and the E-Kid (Shoot!)





So, a gig that I found out almost by accident turned out to be of the most interesting and captivating kind. It's a shame there were maybe half a hundred people to see it, though. The rest just don't have any clue what they missed there. Although, surprisingly, as I understood from the band, a show this small was nothing unusual during their tour. Nevertheless, this was a night to remember and a new valuable addition to my favourites.


You can check out both bands at Bandcamp: Phlox and Hedvig Mollestad Trio.