Møster! – Bolts

Action Jazz

Saxophonist Kjetil Møster is one of the busiest guys around, with his finger in numerous improv pies as well as being part of both the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Gard Nilssen‘s Supersonic Orchestra.

With his power quartet Møster!, which involves Kjetil plus Hans Magnus Ryan on electric guitar, Nikolai Hængsle on electric bass and Kenneth Kapstad on drums, they tend to take jazz by the scruff of the neck and send it squealing into the night as evinced by opener “Desert Ride”.

The blustering guitar, dirty, squalling sax and tumble-drier drums really bring to mind a drive through a desert that is alive with discordant debris; a chase scene that ends in harrying sky-borne destruction. It is far from the usual desert fare and as the drums roll on, this inner rage is vented to a rambunctious and ear-bleeding degree.

Bolt is far from easy listening and even if they go from one extreme to the other, as on the spectral “Small Bubbles Of Light” with its slow stripped vibe and the lonely wail of sax, it doesn’t lull the listener in any way. The acres of space here and the ponderous repeated motifs of “Not A Signal But A Door” use silence as a means of oppressing. The subtle insistence of the motifs are backed by slabs of sound and the awkward rhythm creates a barrier to entry, going against the title.

The group work really well around one another, but you can tell they are trying hard to push themselves into unexpected avenues; there is something utterly rockist in the pummelling rhythm of “Rippling Circles” with absolutely no time for subtleties. Kjetil’s sax is left to wail and it feels as though he is throttling the life out of the instrument.

Aside from the spectral second track, Bolt feels frantic, like they have lost control somehow and are struggling to regain it, and that slightly wayward vibe is what sets it apart from 2024’s Springs — and there is something in the difference between bolts and springs that well describes this collection. There is a certain comfort in springs, what with their use in beds and sofas; but bolts are hard, unyielding and purposeful.

The guitars spark and splay, wringing speed metal solos from hidden recesses while drums collapse surrounded by gouts of feedback and all the while the sax is searching desperately. On the final piece “Bearings”, things attempt a more spiritual turn though the sound is still trapped, the storm clouds revolving desperate for relief, but the chugging and churning remains impotent and frustrated.

It is an interesting note on which to end and you feel that Moster!’s search for peace continues even after the album finishes. You sense there is more left in the tank; but for now this is a fantastically wilful and blistering collection.

-Mr Olivetti-