Kalandra have been a vehicle for Katrine Stenbekk’s enchanting voice, her poetic lyrics and her vibrant live performances since 2013. A Frame of Mind is the band’s fourth fuller length release following the debut EP Beneath the Breaking Waves, the acclaimed alternative folk/rock LP The Line, and the ambient soundtrack for the video game Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands.
On this album, the song-writing successfully combines the band’s naturalistic ambient soundscapes and the dark instrumental elements that are so distinctive, with more accessible, structured rock stylings. Drummer and percussionist Oskar Johnsen Rydh takes a leading role in providing the heavier rhythms that feature, the band as whole creating an intriguing mix of songs perfectly epitomising their alternative folk/rock classification.
Katrine explains how “the album can be described as an introspective journey about life’s experiences and how they shape the way we perceive the world.” Whilst the themes maybe familiar, it is mightily impressive that Katrine is able to provide her own insight with so much colour and imagination in her second language, without resorting to clichés. As if to emphasise this, and to compare and contrast, two of the songs are presented in her native Norwegian, the sound of which is actually very melodic and easy to listen to, and they slot into the playlist very effectively.
The album begins with I Am, which sets an extremely high bar. Katrine steps into the limelight immediately to deliver an emotional back-story of the struggles of life and how our experiences make us who we are. She draws us in with her tender, melodic story-telling followed by the band kicking in with distorted, screeching guitars and thumping drum rolls. It’s great theatre and a grand opening to the album.
The album continues with Katrine un-packing more emotional baggage. The explicit “pain and misery” introduced in I Am is followed by soul-searching in Untying the Knot, re-connecting in Are You Ready and “finding colours between the black and white” in the outstanding The State of the World. Her winsome vocals are accompanied by cinematic, sympathetic musical arrangements, with extra dimensions being provided by keyboards and strings.
Bardaginn, the battle, is the first of the songs sung in Norwegian. It has more of a rock feel, with more bass in the mix and more aggressive guitar tones. The band doesn’t provide much in the way of virtuosity or soloing but the overall effect is powerful, and keeps the focus on Katrine’s more emphatic vocal delivery. A Life Worth Living is, musically-speaking, more ambitious with dynamic variation across the instrumentation, that includes cello and violin, and it’s clear that he band is developing into a formidable collective unit.
On I’ll Get There One Day this trend for ambition in the musical arrangements continues. We even get a nod to some progressive influences when the basic piano melody in the first half of the song develops into a more expansive and atmospheric finale that plays out after an intense instrumental bridge that incorporates some vocal harmonics.
The closing trio of songs include the pure ambient relaxation of Hytta (the cabin), the second native-tongue song Segla (sail) and the folk-whimsy of I Remember a Time. This sequence provides some calm moments for peaceful reflection and it struck me that they could have been arranged extremely satisfyingly as a more purposefully, continuously arranged suite of music.
Overall, this is an excellent album. The band are unashamedly immersed in the Norwegian folk music culture but are also ambitiously expanding their horizons and taking on wider influences as they are developing. Kalandra is well on course to follow in the footsteps of the many Norwegian and Scandinavian bands that have established a mainstream presence outside their homeland.
TRACK LISTING
01. I Am (5:32)
02. Untie The Knot (3:52)
03. Are You Ready? (4:31)
04. The State of the World (4:18)
05. Bardaginn (5:33)
06. A Life Worth Living (4:13)
07. I’ll Get There One Day (6:25)
08. Hytta (4:24)
09. Segla (4:58)
10. I Remember A Time (4:20)
Total Time – 49:06
MUSICIANS
Katrine Stenbekk – Vocals
Florian Döderlein Winter – Guitar
Jogeir Daae Maeland – Guitar
Oskar Johnsen Rydh – Percussion
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: By Norse
Country of Origin: Norway
Date of Release: 13th September 2024
LINKS
Kalandra – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram