Tjay Maxx
Brilliant new track. Loving the skits to life in Bergen, there is no bad weather, just bad clothes. Featured this song on my latest Mixcloud show so wanted to pay for it here. Looking forward to more.
2023 saw the return of multi-talented Norwegian producer Espen Horne to Wah Wah 45s, after a 24 year hiatus. The man behind the label’s very first release, the now seminal Magnetica, never lost his connection with the label and has remained very much part of the Wah Wah family, making a comeback this spring with his first solo material under his own name since that club classic from 1999.
The gorgeous soul-jazz beauty , Bakeren, featuring the stunning vocals of Resonators’ Faye Houston, quickly found a home on Gilles Peterson’s internationally renowned BBC Radio 6 show as well as that of Jazz FM legend Robbie Vincent, Bandcamp Weekly and the Fresh Finds Jazz Spotify playlist.
“Brilliant track!” Gilles Peterson (BBC 6 Music)
With its follow up, Bergen Sunrays, Espen has employed the talents of another sublime vocalist - this time rapper and singer Selim Mutic who is also, quite aptly, from the Norwegian’s home town referenced in the song’s title. The track was the first piece that Espen started working on in this new collection of songs, and what started as a rough sketch was soon picked up to be used as part of the Visit Bergen tourism campaign! The song’s lyrics talk about loving their city for what it is - “raindrops, snowflakes, sunrays”, all in one day! It’s a melancholic and soulful love song to Bergen that incidentally also marks the first time that Mutic has written and performed a piece in English!
Curious keys come courtesy of Eirik Blåsternes alongside driving drums from Ivar Thormodsæter, but it’s Chris Holm’s heavy bassline groove, itself inspired, in typical Espen Horne style, by an obscure choral Christian record from 1970, that really propels the track forward. And that groove is tweaked subtly and classily by German house music producers Session Victim, who here deliver the added bonus of a refined downtempo remix to make the track a very handy early doors floor filler.
Bergen Sunrays is the second taster to be taken from the album, The Anatomy of Serene Eloquence, due out later this year on Wah Wah 45s.
Great album! A crossover jazz-r'nb-african trip from continent to continent. London does it again. Nyubian Twist with more jazz overtones. John Woodward
Just purchased the vinyl!! Can't wait to play this on my babies over and over.
Now, praying it arrives to Sydney on good timing and CONDITION misstanya__
