I like songs that leave you in no doubt what they are about. Those like the ‘Apocalypse in 9/8’ section on the ‘concept single’ that is ‘Supper’s Ready’, the 23-minute prog rock epic masterpiece by Genesis from the 1972 album ‘Foxtrot’.
It’s a highly religious piece about the apocalypse. And it’s in 9/8. Or at least the percussion is; other parts are in 7/8 and 4/4.
By and large it does what it says on the tin.
And so to ‘Abyss in B-flat minor’ a new, seven and a half minute single release from Jo Berger Myhre, a Norwegian bassist, composer, producer and improvisational musician whom I have previously encountered playing bass in a live show for Eberson, the Oslo based jazz-rock fusion outfit fronted by virtuoso guitarist Jon Eberson and his daughter Marte. They are top notch and you have to good to keep up with them. He is.
It’s appropriate that Jo Berger Myhre released this track just prior to the Artemis II rocket launch on Wednesday because while the title carries hints of negativity and doom (and let’s face it, anything can happen in space, can’t it, Major Tom?) it is at the same time a soaring, aspirational piece. It quite simply fits the bill for that mission.
It gets underway with a similarly cosmic note to M83’s ‘Outro’ and retains that gravitas right the way though, a variety of electronic sounds meshing with an equally wide range of woodwind and brass instruments to project you on a journey through the firmament and on to the final frontier, Captain.
Then there’s the oddball percussion. At one point about halfway through its sounds like someone’s knocking on a door, desperate to get in, to hitch a celestial ride or to escape a catastrophe on this mortal coil; it’s down to your imagination.
Then the outro in this instance is a gentle one, and if I can use the space analogue again, suggestive of the slow fall back to Earth of a command module on the end of a couple of parachutes, perhaps carrying Sandra Bullock in her T-shirt and pants. What do you mean, you haven’t seen the movie?
I discovered by chance tonight that the debut single, ‘Any Contact’ by the Manchester/London band Tigerside, a post-house punk pop outfit of baggies that I know well, was played during the Artemis launch at Cape Canaveral.
That got me thinking about what tracks should feature on an official Artemis album. Both ‘Any Contact’ and the moody and magnificent ‘Abyss in B-flat minor’ would be first on the team sheet if I had anything to do with it.
Any chance of an album? His last one was in 2023. Dunno. But I hope so.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Find him on:
Website: www.jobergermyhre.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jobergermyhre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jobergermyhre/
