Kool Music – No Horsing Around
Kool Music – “Trois Horses” (Escho, 2023) – review by Ivna Franic
From the name of the project to the visual aesthetic of some of the releases, artist and writer Jasper Baydala’s Kool Music has a slightly tongue-in-cheek feel to it. When it comes to the actual music he makes, however, there is little evidence of unseriousness and trickery.
Kool Music’s new cassette release for Escho is based on an improvised live session recorded in Copenhagen last August, with accompanying musicians Nis Bysted on guitar and Rune Kielsgaard on drums. Returning to the mischievous nature of Baydala’s project, one can’t help but wonder if the “three horses” in the album’s name are a humorous reference to the trio of collaborating musicians.
In the context of Kool Music’s prolific catalog, Trois Horses stands out not only for its free form and collaborative element, but also as a sonically different and somewhat more exciting release than some of the Glasgow-based artist’s recent output, such as last year’s LP Dagobah or 2020’s Zen Guitar.
Beginning with the ten-minute “Bullseye” – the longest track on the album – Trois Horses gets right to the point. The dynamic instrumental quickly dissolves into sporadic guitar licks and smoothly transitions into the embracing chords of the following “Konnections”. One of the highlights here features Joanne Robertson (who’s also released music on Escho as well as on the acclaimed British label AD93) , who sprinkles the thoughtful “Rawhide Bowls” with her own brand of lonely yet warm guitar sounds.
It may have been born out of improvisation, but Trois Horses works quite well as a coherent record of instrumental guitar gems.
Many of the tracks on Trois Horses follow a kind of questioning, probing logic, meandering between the meditative and the suspicious. This is perhaps most evident in the soothing “Affinity,” the stop-and-go motion of “What If,” and the repetitive strummed chords of “Prévisions”.
Trois Horses is an improvised session that isn’t pressed to show off the participants’ skills – each piece is given time to develop in whatever direction the interplay takes, and the instruments leave room for each other without clogging up the sound picture. Although there’s no mistaking the overall improvisational structure of the recording, the prevailing mood is one of calm and inquiry.
It may have been born out of improvisation, but Trois Horses works quite well as a coherent record of instrumental guitar gems. And while its overall subtlety might suggest a mood-setting background use, its curious aspects constantly push it to the forefront. It’s as if each track drifts in and out of a thought process, punctuated by unspoken questions that occasionally pique your interest and demand repeated listening.
Info: “Trois Horses” is out on Escho.
