On their third album the guitar, bass and drum trio Monkey Plot are going electric again after having cultivated a purely acoustic sound for several years. Their music still evokes an impression of intimacy, although the band’s roots in rocking improvisational music now come more clearly to the fore.
Recognisable and new. Challenging, but accessible.
The group’s acoustic music was designed for small rooms: living room music. On their new album they have moved down to the basement. Their music still suits small spaces, but the volume is turned up and the energy is different. But rather than presenting raucous, noisy rock-club improv, they have developed a kind of ambling, makeshift form of expression, which is their own unique sound. Recognisable and new. Challenging, but accessible.
Monkey Plot have been described as having revitalised Norwegian improvisational music, and improvisation remains their tool of choice in forming their music. The material on Here I Sit, Knowing All of This has been carved out gradually in the course of several years of interplay and improvisation. The band toured extensively in Europe and South American in the past year, and the many concerts have obviously taken their interaction to a new level. Monkey Plot’s first album, Løv og lette vimpler, was released on the Gigafon label in 2013. The following year the band was pronounced “Norwegian jazz musicians of the year” and won a grant from Gramo, Norway’s performing rights collecting society.
The Swedish poet Pär Thörn has collaborated with the band at a number of concerts and on a cassette release. He reads his own poem on the track “Kalla Handen” on the album.
Here I Sit, Knowing All of This was recorded on analogue tape at Athletic Studio in Halden, and was mixed by Jørgen Træen at Duper Studio in Bergen.
