In 2017, there came out a terrific album by some very fine guitarists who got together to cover and tribute Norwegian guitar visionary Terje Rypdal. Usually, those kind of eulogies are reserved for those notables who have passed away, so I felt obliged to note then that “Terje Rypdal is still thankfully among us.” But Rypdal has had notable lack of studio production in the twenty-first century, as all his albums of the last twenty years have been live performances, mostly paired with large orchestras.
In 2020, Terje Rypdal has finally given us a sign that he’s done quite done yet creating new art in a studio. Conspiracy — out September 11, 2020 — is a forceful message that Rypdal is back, back to the 70s, to be more precise. The searching, often rubato flow of his strains that ignored the trend of fusion of that time (especially when led by guitarists) and that dreamy, mournful tone is on full display throughout Conspiracy, the very things that created Terje Rypdal fans.
Almost as if to underscore that he wants to play jazz-rock, Rypdal assembled an electric band and, unlike the assemblage of his classic ECM’s, it has no horn player. It’s also a collection of guys from different generations. Pål Thowsen played on some Arild Andersen records in the mid-70s and around that time he co-led a dual-drummer album with Jon Christensen with Rypdal in a sideman role. Keyboardist Ståle Storløkken appeared on a couple of Rypdal’s recordings from the aughts, and electric bassist Endre Hareide Hallre is the newcomer but as I’ll get into in a minute, he’s no less qualified to be in this band.
So Conspiracy is fusion alright, but remember, Rypdal’s conception of that amalgamation doesn’t square up with anyone else’s conception. This is classic ECM, and Rypdal was one of the primary architects of music that’s closely associated with the record label.
“As If The Ghost…Was Me!?” is a familiar, comforting template. The yawning spaces between the instruments, the persistent tapping of cymbals and Rypdal’s weeping guitar surges and recedes like the tide, over a song that’s more of a melodic development than a straight up melody, touch on many of the hallmarks of Rypdal’s 70s classic albums. You could have told me that this track was recorded back then and I might have accepted that assertion.
That lonely guitar of Rypdal’s feels even more lonesome on “What Was I Thinking;” Storløkken and Hallre are barely present, as Rypdal draws out wistful beauty on emotion alone. “Baby Beautiful” is a gorgeous assimilation of instruments: the hovering organ, the deeply lyrical bass, sax-like legato guitar lines and Thowsen’s sublime patter, where everyone leads and no one leads. Rypdal cedes the floor to Hallre for “By His Lonesome,” who clearly understands Rypdal’s vision by how his bass conveys human feeling, not brute technical prowess.
“Conspiracy” is a roaring return back to Rypdal’s rock roots with his backing trio now loud and in full-jam mode, as Rydal is showing the youthful vitality of a twenty-five year-old shredder with a song that draws some similarities to his ginormous Odyssey track “Rolling Stone.”
“Dawn” is not even noticeable until about a minute in; it’s a dark, ambient coda.
Terje Rypdal has been a restless, progressive artist through the last fifty years, but with Conspiracy, he demonstrates he can still pack large ideas into a small band within the tighter confines of a studio.
Conspiracy is now on sale from ECM Records.
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