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Thursday 18 August 2011

Record Review – Trummor & Orgel 'Out Of Bounds'

TRUMMOR & ORGEL
Out Of Bounds
Tri-Sound / Introspection
www.trummororgel.com

The warm reverberating sound of the Hammond B-3 is indeed a truly
wondrous thing.

A magical instrument both beloved of and key to the diverse sounds of mod, soul, R&B, blues, psych, progressive and, of course, jazz ever since it first appeared on the musical landscape during the ’50s.
The choice of working monicker might make this duo sound like a firm of continental solicitors and notaries or even a carnival side show but rather more straightforwardly Trummor & Orgel is in fact Swedish for "drums and organ" which makes perfect sense given that this Hammond and drum kit double act comes courtesy of Sweden's Ljunggren brothers Anders (Hammond and synths) and Staffan (drums). Intentionally shorn of all non-essentials crucial to the functioning of the stripped down organ and traps combination Trummor & Orgel are the living embodiment of hip contemporary roots-inspired instrumentalists.

Over the space of the 10 selections on this their fourth studio collection Trummor & Orgel succeed in stopping off at succession of related sub-genres that take in the mood driven worlds of library
recordings, applied film and TV themeology, loungecore, spacey electro pop and, almost inevitably, groove driven jazz. Whether uptemo – 'Worlds Collide', 'Some Friendly Advice', mid tempo – 'Letters In Red And Blue', 'Straight On' and the album's title track or downbeat – 'Corduroy' and 'The Wheel' it makes little difference to the Ljunggren brothers who repeatedly show themselves to be extremely well versed in the art of making comparatively little go a long, long
way.

An inescapable part of the richness of Trummor & Orgel's sound on Out Of Bounds is the way it brings with it echoes and resonances of a sparkling roll call of Blue Note Hammond legends
whether it be Jimmy Smith, Dr Lonnie Smith or Larry Young while on the soul, R&B and psych side of the equation Booker T, Georgie Fame, Brian Auger and Steve Winwood style vibes can all be heard hanging intoxicatingly thick in the air.

So, retro for sure and even on occasion nostalgic and melancholic, the one thing the impressively potent alchemy of Trummor & Orgel can be relied upon track after track is their ability to conjure up a succession of richly evocative moods.

However, despite the album being drenched in the iconic sound of the Hammond B-3 and its rich analogue aftertaste the thriving family affair that is Trummor & Orgel manage to avoid the pitfall of finding themselves trapped in the past thanks to their talent for re-shuffling and re-imagining their many sources and influences into something effortlessly cool and stylish.
Grahame Bent

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