Nils Petter Molvaer – Baboon Moon ★★★★

Rec. date not stated

On which Nils Petter Molvaer, the Norwegian trumpet player known for coiling like a pillar of smoke above a landscape inspired by dance music, instead coils like a pillar of smoke above a landscape inspired by rock. Baboon Moon was recorded in ten days, in a studio not far from Molvaer’s home island of Sula, and it’s his best album since 1997’s breakthrough Khmer. In the producer’s chair is Stian Westerhus, the startlingly imaginative Norwegian musician who also contributes guitar, keyboards and “too many pedals”.

Although Westerhus, like former Madrugada drummer Erland Dahlen, is happy to take a Spinal Tap approach to volume levels when required, moments of sublime subtlety abound; and the smoldering NPM plays with Jon Hassell-like focus throughout. The trio is brand new, and the album is even better – or at least more consistent – than the live show, although by the time they hit London on 22 May the live show might just have caught up.

– Marcus O’Dair