Downpour by Kanaan

Downpour by Kanaan, 2023

This is a psychedelic trio with a jazz-influenced sound, originating primarily from jamming. Along with great riffs, there are jams, great compositions and structured songs, but also improvisations and experimentation, and above all, fuzz and powerful bass, as on this album.

Great musicians, excellent guitar and drums. The bassist also plays synth and enriches the sound with space rock, noises, and harmonium parts. His bass sound is full of harmonics, with almost "drone" characteristics typical of 1960s psychedelic rock, often resembling that of a broken amplifier, giving every note incredible sustain.

We talked about this band for the 2021 albums Earthbound, with its heavy, less jazzy sound compared to their standards, and 2024's Langt, Langt Vekk by Kanaan & Aevestaden, which combines jazz and psychedelic sounds with "folktronic" music played with ancient traditional instruments and folk music.

The tracks, in brief

Black Time Fuzz tells us from the title that there is extensive use of distortion, both guitar and bass. The synths have "spacey" sounds and create great density.
Amazon, again, heavy distortion, but here giving great emphasis to the melody, the pace and transport are beautiful, captivating.
The title track, Downpour, has less heavy tones, a great bass intro and a splendid guitar, repeated themes, backbeats, and fantastic jams that are philosophically jazzy but not jazzy.
Orbit has a great groove, distortions, and a psychedelic sound with great bass and a great guitar part.
Solaris Pt. 1 is one of the most beautiful tracks, with great guitar solos and a space rock sound.
Solaris Pt. 2 closes with more power and distortion than the first part of the same name.

I wouldn't change a thing about this album; the heavy atmospheres and distortions are perfectly balanced with the melody and space synths. A beautiful combination, and above all, power and driving force.

I love it, so I recommend it.

Tracks
1. Black Time Fuzz (4:24)
2. Amazon (6:00)
3. Downpour (7:38)
4. Psunspot (1:04)
5. Orbit (6:17)
6. Solaris Pt. 1 (7:47)
7. Solaris Pt. 2 (7:36)
Running Time: 40:46

The Line-Up
- Ask Vatn Strøm - electric and acoustic guitars
- Ingvald André Vassbø - drums and percussion
- Eskild Myrvoll - bass, guitars, noise, synthesizers, harmonium
Featuring:
- Hedvig Mollestad - guitar (2)