IN THE COUNTRY

Gatefold 2LP/DVD version. Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country's previous album Whiteout was an artistic triumph. Always a very powerful and exciting live act, it was only natural that a concert album should come at this stage of their career, after three studio albums and a number of Norwegian, European and U.S. tours. Originally planned as a concert DVD, In The Country invited video director Claus Arthur Breda-Gulbrandsen to bring a crew to film a couple of Norwegian shows in October 2010. Claus had previously directed two videos for Morten Qvenild's other band, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra. Not content with merely filming these shows, Claus (and the band as well) had bigger ambitions for a more expanded type of film, of which you can see the quite stunning results on the accompanying DVD, with its mysterious Tarkovsky-like dream sequences mixed with Hipgnosis types of images. Rune Grammophon considers this to be one of the finest music films ever produced in Norway and a treatment rarely given to a jazz band of any origin. Looking like something with a much bigger budget, it needs to be said that this is a labor of love from all involved, and especially the director. Also watch out for the hidden video after the film has ended. Apart from selections from all the studio albums, there are three new tracks here including a beautiful interpretation of Mark Knopler's "Brothers In Arms." Morten Qvenild (grand piano, electronics, vocals), Roger Arntzen (double bass, vocals), Pål Hausken (drums, percussion, electronics, vocals), Andreas Mjøs (guitars, vibraphone). DVD is European PAL format only, region free (can be viewed on all computers). 62 minutes, stereo, 16:9 aspect ratio.