By Eyal Hareuveni
Danish, Oslo-baed sax player Signe Emmeluth is one of the busiest musicians
in the Nordic free music scene, leading her bands Emmeluth’s Amoeba and
Banshee, playing solo and in duos with Belgian sax player Hanne de Backer
and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood, and member of Paal Nilssen-Love’s Circus,
Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra, Bonanza of Doom, Andreas Røysum Ensemble,
Liv Andrea Hauge Ensemble, and Jonas Cambien’s Maca Conu.
Emmeluth joined the hyper-expressive free jazz trio Yes Deer – with
Norwegian guitarist-partner Karl Bjorå (who plays in Emmeluth’s Amoeba and
with her in Bonanza of Doomin and the duo Owl), and Danish drummer Anders
Vestergaard – after fellow Danish sax player Signe Dahlgreen left the trio
in 2021. Everything That Shines, Everything That Hurts is the fourth album
of the trio and the first one with Emmeluth.
Fortunately, nothing has changed in this supposedly fresh beginning of the
trio. It still offers its raw and thunderous dynamics and explodes right
from the first second with an intense, merciless ride. Displaced, distorted
guitar riffs, manic saxophone blows, and libidinous drumming blend into an
intoxicating, cacophonous stew that keeps boiling until it completely drains
all energy out of Yes Deer.
Emmeluth, on tenor and alto saxes, has become an organic part of Yes Deer’s
fiery, dense interplay with her stream of stratospheric, commanding blows.
The album features only two pieces, the 14-minute “Everything That Shines”
and the 18-minute “Everything That Hurts”, but you are guaranteed that its
liberating power will trigger immediate, repeated listening. There is
nothing that can compete with an addictive stew of such three musicians
playing in one room, their super-fast instincts, clever thinking, and deep
camaraderie, as well as their willingness to act stupidly, search for the
sound of sabotage, and push away their sticky jazz education.
A perfect album for our current despairing times.