Wednesday, March 30, 2005  

The National Bank
"Tolerate"
The National Bank
(Universal Norway, 2004)

Jaga Jazzist is about to release the beautiful, proggy, surprisingly guitar-swamped What We Must, and Scissorkick has posted the CD's "Stardust Hotel"---but just for a hot minute, so go ahead & rush over to get it. I'll wait here till you get back, alone with my thoughts...

...weather sure is nice...allergies sure are bad...I wonder what the weather's like in Trondheim?...do Norwegians have allergies?...I'm naming my first born Bjorn Mbaqanga Rastafari...

OK, cool, you're back?

When Jaga primaries the Horntveth Bros take breaks from the Jazzist they are releasing really great solo records such as Lar's Pooka or really freaky discs such as Martin's Fast Motion and Skull E.P.s. Or they are performing in the National Bank on guitar (Lars) and drums (Martin) with vocalist-guitarist Thomas Dybdahl, bassist Nikolai Eilertsen, and former Jaga keyboardist Morten Qvenild (also of In the Country and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, two of the finest groups in Norway, and formerly of Shining).

This is what I know about the National Bank: Their self-titled debut topped the Norwegian charts, and the band recently won the Spellemannsprisen, the equivalent of a Grammy, for best pop group. And like the Horntveths, Qvenild, and Eilertsen (who was/is in the rock band BigBang), Dybdahl is successful in his own right, as a singer-songwriter (plenty of MP3s and videos on his personal site). So what does this supergroup sound like? Perhaps Jeff Buckley, free of Robert Plant-isms, fronting a lap-pop band that uses real instruments?

I wish I could tell you more, but my Norwegian doesn't go past saying takk and ein ol ver sa snill and eit offentleg toalett (thanks, beer, toilet), and the National Bank's Web site is mostly in the native tongue because, as far as I can tell, they haven't played outside the country and don't need to court the non-Norge as of yet. But the group is on Universal in Norway, and someone really should license their CD for distribution in the rest of the world. Dybdahl sings in English, and the band's songs are gorgeous and universal while still being quirky, no doubt due to the deep musical training and arrangement skills of Qvenlid and the Horntveth boys. I think they'd go over big in Williamsburg and France.

I'm not even sure where you can easily buy the CD at the moment. Norway's huge and really rather good chain store Platekompaniet carries it, as does Free Record Shop, but I dunno if either does mail order outside the country. CD-On also carries The National Bank, and it seems to do mail order all over Europe; plus, their site is in English, so maybe they can hook people outside Scandinavia & the EU as well. In the meantime, go to Oh, It's So Quiet Show to download the National Bank's "I Hear the Sparrow Sing."

[Edit: Avi, who runs the great Scandinavian music blog It's a Trap points out in the comments that Zailor.no also ships internationally.]

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