Hedvig Mollestad Trio

Poppodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer [NL]
Sunday, 22 May 2026

I had never heard of the Hedvig Mollestad Trio (HM3), but the description alone — an instrumental collision of jazz, prog‑metal, psychedelia, and stoner rock was enough to pique my curiosity. The ‘stoner’ part didn’t exactly reassure me, yet a quick dive into YouTube convinced me that missing their show at Zoetermeer’s Poppodium Boerderij would be a mistake. Still, I arrived with mixed feelings as their latest studio album is both richly textured and utterly exhausting, a whirlwind that leaves you craving a palate cleanser like, say, the Carpenters. “This could be heaven or this could be hell,” as the Eagles once put it.

On the first warm summer evening of the year, about 150 of us gathered to find out which it would be.

The trio entered the stage in complete silence at half past eight, visually striking from the start with bassist Ellen Brekken in a red glittery dress, drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad in an Arsenal shirt, and guitarist/bandleader Hedvig Mollestad in a shimmering miniskirt and high boots.

They opened the set with a shortened version of Four Candles, followed by Approaching, which evoked Led Zeppelin, although Page’s violin-bow theatrics were now being used on the kit’s cymbals.

“Want some jazz?” Bjørnstad asked. Instead what we got was the riff hungry Bewitched, Dwarfed and Defeathered, delivered with a healthy barrage of dissonance.

After that, Hedvig took to the microphone for the first time, and announced the full rendition of their latest album Bees in the Bonnet, so I had a good idea of what was coming. See See Bop (I see what they did there), complete with arm waving it did bear some resemblance to the famous Texan guitar trio, while Golden Griffin, with its melodic approach, leant more towards The Aristocrats and Matteo Mancuso. Itta on the other hand was laced with those typical monotonous stoner sounds, but with Fripp-esque runs, heavy use of the tremolo arm, and lots of high notes.

A welcome breather arrived with Lamament, all brushes, upright bass, and clean jazz guitar from Hedvig, stylistically reminiscent of what John Etheridge (Soft Machine) does so beautifully. It was a moment of calm after the storm.

Aside from the humorous title, Bob’s Your Giddy Aunt is a quintessential HM3 oddity with a wacky intro à la The Aristocrats, spiralling into exciting King Crimson-esque cacophony before landing on a metal riff. The volume knob was indeed turned to 11 in true Spinal Tap style. The album closer, Apocalypse Slow, was a towering wall of noise with Hedvig’s guitar shrieking, wailing, joined by the bowed upright bass doing the works.

With the full rendition of Bees in the Bonnet completed I felt battered, but also amazed and exhilarated.

The final portion of the set offered room to breathe and to marvel. Indian Driving offered plenty of room for the trio to cut loose, including a great bass solo. In fact Ellen Brekken shone throughout the evening, whether on electric or upright bass, her playing was fluid, effortless, and dazzling.

In Ding Dong. You’re Dead, Hedvig conjured ethereal sounds from her instrument, with her now familiar signature echo and vibrato slant, while Ellen Brekken played the double bass with a bow. There’s a heavily distorted guitar duel with drums, in The Rex; was I witnessing the female Jimmy Page here? All flights Cancelled, a stomping boogie in the style of Jeff Beck incorporated lots of echo and tremolo plus a healthy dose of finger tapping.

Sing, Goddess, a swampy, heavy blues rocker included an impressive cross‑instrument duet between the two ladies and those King Crimson motifs again, delivered with a hip-swaying rhythm by the dynamic duo.

The evening drew to a close with the heavy metal mayhem of Beastie, Beastie, with cheeky nods to Rush’s Tom Sawyer and Deep Purple’s Burn delivered by the ladies, prominently side by side at the front of the stage. For the encore, they tore into a smoky, muscular cover of Led Zeppelin’s ’71 classic Rock and Roll, with Mollestad on vocals, no less, her screaming delivery leaning towards Geddy Lee while her guitar channelled Jimmy Page.

Across an hour and forty‑five minutes, the trio delivered a performance that was loud, precise, chaotic, and virtuosic. The audience responded with well‑earned enthusiasm, and much appreciated by the musicians.

The sound was deafeningly loud but, miraculously, clearly audible; it helped that there are only three musicians at work. At times, the sound was truly earsplitting; these are the moments when a good set of earplugs can be of great importance.

The Hedvig Mollestad Trio’s hybrid of jazz, metal, psychedelia, and prog, sometimes dubbed Jazz‑Sabbath, remains a tricky niche: too heavy for jazz purists, too soft for metalheads. But I had a fantastic evening, tossed between ‘heaven and hell’ in the best possible way.

[Photos courtesy of Arie van Hemert (Poppodium Boerderij)]

SETLIST
Four Candles
Approaching
Bewitched, Dwarfed and Defeathered
See See Bop
Golden Griffin
Itta
Lamament
Bob’s Your Giddy Aunt
Apocalypse Slow
Indian Driving
Ding Dong. You’re Dead
The Rex
Sing, Goddess
Beastie, Beastie
Rock and Roll

MUSICIANS
Hedvig Mollestad – Guitars, Vocals
Ellen Brekken – Electric Bass, Double Bass
Ivar Loe Bjørnstad – Drums

LINKS
Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | Instagram