Short Reviews [Oresund Space Collective - 2023 - "Everyone Is Evil"]

Back in 2006 I was sent the debut album by Transubstans Records of a new collective of improvisational musicians, Oresund Space Collective, and I said, “It is music to play late at night looking at the stars, letting yourself just drift into the universe of their own creation”. The band has always had a flux of members coming in and out, mostly from other well-known Scandinavian bands such as Carpet Knights (SE), Mantric Muse (DK), Bland Bladen (SE), Gas Giant (DK), Hooffoot (SE), First band from Outer Space (SE), Siena Root (SE), My Brother the Wind (SE), Agusa (SE), Tangle Edge (NO), The Univerzals (DK), Papir (DK), Black Moon Circle (NO), and there has been just the one constant, Dr. Space on synths. It is strange to think I reviewed their debut and now here I am listening to their 40th (their 27th studio release), with improvisation and space rock still very much at the core of what they do. Here we have just four tracks, but the opening title cut is in excess of an hour and there is a total playing time in excess of two hours. What this allows the listener to do is truly get inside the album which was recorded by a few different line-ups with only Dr. Space, Jonathan Segel (violin, guitar), and guitarist Luis Simoes credited on all tracks. It is difficult to realise this is improvised music as melodies are repeated, structures and tight arrangements created, and it feels highly orchestrated and rehearsed at times, loose at others, which clearly demonstrates the high understanding they have of each other and what they are aiming to achieve. The music moves in different directions yet is always strongly within space rock, never truly falling into the experimental which is often beloved of improvisors, yet somehow creating music which is cogent and articulate. The rhythm section provides the platform, while guitars/synth/Mellotron/violin all take leads or support the others, and one can only imagine everyone working together in the studio taking their cues and directions with head nods and hand signals. For a piece to work as well as the opener yet be that long is nothing of a huge achievement as the listener never loses interest as it moves us through the universe. It is an album which any fan of this genre will thoroughly enjoy as Oresund Space Collective show that 40 albums in they are still as exciting and interesting as they have always been.