ALB - Lupus Island

A while back, traditional Norwegian folk music meant old men playing the accordion and old women singing in strange dialects. Not anymore. The traditional Norwegian music scene of today consists of promising young talents who want to take folk music to a new level - which is exactly what ALB has done.

ALB is short for Andreas Ljones Band - Andreas has already had great success with the group Majorstuen, who mix traditional Norwegian folk music with classical and give new life to old tunes. In making this album he seems to have thought "why not go even further?". The music is new and fresh and a wonderful, though unlikely combination of traditional folk, rock and electronica. Andreas himself plays the fiddle and various flutes, the rest of the band (Rune Tylden, Andreas Bratlie, Lasse Weeden) handle sampling, programming, synth, bass, drums and percussions. He seems to have taken a new direction imagewise too judging by his promo photos; from the clean-cut image of Majorstuen to something that looks like Rothbart in Swan Lake - Heavily styled hair, eyes smeared with eyeliner and locked in a mysterious, intense gaze.

I wish there was a more accurate way to describe ALB's unique sound but it's hard to explain. It has to be heard to be understood.

Links to buy the album can be found on ALB's web site: http://www.andreasljones.com/musikk.html