Although the set is just short of an hour I found it to be so engrossing that the time passed by amazingly quickly. The band get into such a groove and must have themselves lost all track of time while playing. This is conveyed to the listener in a really mesmerising way. Yet there is also something visceral and tribal about the music, you can feel the vitality and spirit; the soul and essence of the aural landscapes that are portrayed here. For me there is something otherworldly to this performance, yet it is also grounded in something that is located deep within the four natural elements. This is music that comes from someones very core and hits you in the same place. It is haunting and yet unyielding, complex and yet uncluttered, novel and yet somehow familiar.
Having heard, what I think are, all of Hills releases this double album of tracks catches the band as elementally as anything I have encountered. This performance is clearly the sound of a group of musicians who are totally invested into their music. The sound of a band who are rooted firmly within the Swedish tradition of innovative and improvised sounds that are linked firmly to nature and the intense changing of the Scandinavian seasons. It is a sound that will totally transport you to a place where you can feel diverted of all the accretions of daily life and somehow return to a more primal state of being.
-o0o-
‘Alive at Roadburn’ is released by Rocket Recordings, and is available for preorder now here. The album will be available on LP/CD/DL & vinyl versions will be gatefold with artwork courtesy of Nik Payne of the Myrrors. Track listing: National Drone/ Frigörande Musik/ Master Sleeps/ Och Solen Sänkte Sig Röd Follow me on Twitter @psychinsightmusic, Facebook and Instagram