Photo by Tore Sœtre via Atomic - Facebook
Atomic
Atomic
“We are just trying to create music that feels fresh to us,” says upright bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten of his band, Atomic.
Atomic’s freshness comes in the flavor of free jazz seasoned by avant-garde European art music tradition, befitting the ensemble’s Swedish and Norwegian origins. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, the quintet will perform at Sugar Maple (411 E. Lincoln Ave.) as part of their final U.S. tour before calling it a day as a group.
Much of the inspiration for Atomic over the course of 15 albums since 2001 comes from music made by African American players expressing political and social struggles.
“We are all connected through tradition and history, and we do our version of it with the deepest respect and admiration of the creators!” Flaten emphasizes. He understands Atomic’s place in the history of their style of music when he adds, “We are part of a long tradition and language that are informed by African American creative music and jazz, post-serialism, and European free improvised music, amongst others. Humbleness and knowledge of where we’re coming from are important to be able to push the music forward.”
Music Forward
One direction in which they have pushed their music forward is by reinterpreting compositions by some of their favorite artists on what will be Atomic's last album, 2018'’s Pet Variations. The set collects what the fivesome has done to personalize pieces by fellow jazz heavyweight’s such as American Carla Bley and fellow Scandanavian Jan Garbarek, classical composers Edgar Varese and Olivier Messiaen as well as The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.
Eclectic as the above assortment of creators might seem, Variations may be one of the more accessible entryways into Atomic’s formidable discography. And each member got some say as to whose music got refashioned for the project. As the band's pianist, Håvard Wiik, clarifies, “The tunes were picked by all the band members and arranged by them and we rehearsed the arrangements before going in to the studio.”
It’s also the ideal for every member of Atomic to be given equal time to solo within the rigorous compositional structures. It is also important, however, for the group to present a united voice. Wilk explains, “we all get equal space during a performance, of course, but Atomic’s approach is very much informed by our collective playing, so we sound more like a unit rather than five individuals.”
Imaginative and ingratiatingly challenging as their music is, what Atomic do is about as niche an endeavor in their homelands as is the case for experimental jazz in the U.S. A big difference for these musicians is that they benefit from public sector patronage.
Or, in Wilk's words, “I think this kind of music has more or less the same status in Scandinavia, only difference is we have financial support from our governments.”
