It would be more than fair to state that, among the whole of Europe, Denmark is one of the very few countries that keeps on consistently producing some of the finest Contemporary Jazz projects of the last couple of decades.
When in 2021 Peter Kohlmetz Møller (Fener Rhodes & Keyboards), Morten Jørgensen (Bass), Mads La Cour (Flugelhorn & Trumpet), Nikolaj Bundvig (Drums) and Simon Krebs (Guitars & Lapsteel), decided to get together to form the collective called Andorra, they might have been far from imagining that their musical journey would have taken them, few years later, into a complex and still highly emotive and fascinating world where, at the basis of their kaleidoscopic sound formula, there is a cinematic aura wrapping their dynamic mix of Jazz, Fusion, Rock and New Age in a sonic bouquet of great intensity.
Andorra's third studio effort just released and aptly called III, takes the Danish collective eclectic musical recipe further forward, reinstating once again the level of talent and musicianship of each of the band members through seven brand new compositions that hypnotise the listener from beginning to end, thanks to the phenomenal interplay between all the musicians, an interplay that distill exciting and unpredictable layers of groove at every moment of the record.
III is, undoubtedly, a very entertaining, brilliantly concepted and played record; Andorra managed so cleverly to create a sonic roller coaster where each of the album's pieces carries its own personality and, at the same moment, projects the personality of each member of Andorra's collective in a very sonically organic style, where everyone complements each other's talent and technique in a slick and highly effective way.
From the energetic opener Lyleland, a passionate ride into Modern Age Jazz, with lots of changes of tempo and displaying a complex variety of sonic structures right to the calming, meditative and seductive closing composition of the album called Ember, Andorra vigorously explore many different musical tangents with such impressive class and sonic cohesion, making of III, without a shadow of a doubt, the Danish collective's most ambitious release to date.
Make no mistakes, Andorra is one of the most inspired and elegant projects of Contemporary Jazz (and beyond) coming from Denmark and their new album just reaffirms, if ever in doubt, their wonderfully, multi-faceted talent and musicianship.
III is out now and can be purchased via Andorra's Bandcamp Official Page .
