Enter cover
Released

Fire! Orchestra is exactly what its name implies: a (very) large ensemble with the trio of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin at its core. On this, the group’s first studio album, they’re nearly 30 men and women strong, including two bassists, three drummers, three guitarists (electric, acoustic, and lap steel), three vocalists, and 13 different horns, plus keyboards and electronics. On the first track of four, lead vocalist Mariam Wallentin sings her own lyrics in a voice somewhere between Karin Krog and Diamanda Galás, as the horns go wild. Later, Simon Ohlsson takes the microphone, a hoarse, Bono-esque shouter. This is dense and multifaceted music, with elements of soul, large-scale free jazz (think the Jazz Composers Orchestra or Alan Silva’s Celestrial Communications Orchestra), and even prog-rock. The first time you hear it, it’ll wash over you like a wave, but the more you listen, the more you’ll hear.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Blackdance cover

Blackdance

Klaus Schulze
Sketches and Ballads cover

Sketches and Ballads

Various Artists, Full Blast
Pathways & Passages cover

Pathways & Passages

Cosmic Vibrations, Dwight Trible
Montreux Jazz Festival cover

Montreux Jazz Festival

Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society
Codebreaker cover

Codebreaker

Matthew Shipp
123 cover

123

Pole
Life Goes On cover

Life Goes On

Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow