Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns: Weejuns

A grainy ghostly facial image graces the cover of guitarist Hedvig Mollestad’s latest release Weejuns. The six tracks were all recorded live in 2022 featuring the trio of Mollestad on guitar, Ole Mofjell (drums) and Stale Storlokken on organ, synths, and continuum. The live shows were improvised, and the opening “Go At Your Peril� seems to find its groove around the five-minute mark and the players lock into each other, rather than each off in their little corner, Mollestad turns up the grit and fires on all cylinders at the end of the opener. Well Alright! I can’t say I’m a big fan of improv, as it usually devolves into nothing more than noise to my ears, but now you have my attention. “Come Monday� unfortunately is exactly what makes me run from improv, electronic sounds (or noises) with some percussion in the background, keep twisting those knobs, this goes nowhere and I’ll be moving on to track three. “Hug That Tree� doesn’t start out promising at all, more noodling, rolling around the drum kit, and ambient electronic noises. I’ll be honest and say that after listening to seven of the seventeen minutes, I moved on. If you can get through the first fifteen minutes of “I’ll Give You Twentyone�, at least the last six or so add some intensity and fire, but I can’t say I would ever go there again either. Mollestad comes to life in spots during “Stay At Your Peril�, finally some fiery guitar playing again. The closing “Pity The City� tries to bring me back, it has the most melody of anything I have heard, and Mollestad wrings some real feeling from her guitar, I wish the music had been more along these lines.

I do believe with a more composed approach, this would be an impressive trio. If you decide that I am just closed-minded, I don’t think I can argue with your assessment, but this is a CD I don’t see myself listening to again, the enjoyable moments were few and far between. I need some kind of structure, and Weejuns was far too chaotic and out there for my taste.

Track Listing
1. Go at your peril 11:47
2. Come Monday 06:41
3. Hug that tree 17:41
4. I'll give you twentyone 21:49
5. Stay at your peril 12:58
6. Pity the city 08:44

Added: January 16th 2024
Reviewer: Eric Porter
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 492
Language: english

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