Oddarrang - Agartha

The Guardian 80

(Edition)

With an unusual lineup of guitar, cello, trombone, voices and electronics, a multi-genre sweep from rock and jazz to contemporary classical, and vocal/instrumental harmonies on singable themes that sometimes suggest a Nordic Pat Metheny group, Finnish quintet Oddarrang have sounded like a small lineup with big dreams since their emergence over a decade ago.

Agartha, with its scientific and mythological undercurrents, takes the band closer to an orchestral and electronic-ambient sound, though often a hauntingly beautiful and still surprising one. The cinematic, keys-looping Aletheia turns unexpectedly clamorous and splintery, as if glass fragments are falling through its soft sound-clouds, while the contrasting Central Sun drives the formidable Olavi Louhivuori’s hip-hoppish backbeat through a fast-bowed cello chord before brass, vocals and clangy guitar lines arrive. Mass I-III is solemnly churchy then turns to a country-guitar riff, Telos/Agharta begins with a Chinese erhu violin melody over a trombone purr, and builds to an explosively anthemic rock chant. It’s a brief set – just over 39 minutes – but humming with diverse musicality.