This is the fifth recording from the Norwegian trio Jøkleba, but their first for ECM. While that would be considered a formidable milestone in any musician's career, all three musicians will already be well known to subscribers to the label. Keyboardist Jon Balke has the most history with ECM, initially as a member of the Arild Andersen Quintet, later as a co-leader of the groundbreaking Masqualero and more recently with his invigorating large ensemble Magnetic North Orchestra. The electric Miles-influenced trumpeter and sound/worldless vocalist Per Jørgensen is a regular sideman for Balke while the percussionist Audun Kleive has recorded for the label with the bands of Arve Henriksen and Terje Rypdal among others. Outland is a recording at the free improv end of a kind of post-Mwandishi Norwegian acoustic-electronica. But it is far from anything that you might call a typical Norwegian avant noise fest. An interest in the writings of Ken Kesey – the track ‘One Flew Over’ is indeed every bit cuckoo – and Sylvia Plath among others is somehow reflected in the recording's quirky volatility. Jøkleba conjures up a delicately sparse collective sound canvas of pointillist textures, eastern-sounding drones, abstract cinematic soundscapes and fragmented percussive grooves. The effect can often be mesmerising.