Text: Peter Lindgaard
Photo: Rene Jørgensen
Saturday 29 July 2023
What the fuck is going on?
Baryl breaks new ground and tests boundaries.
How nice to hear something new. Brand new! Listen to Baryl. Baryl is a young quartet of experimental musicians. On Saturday afternoon, they gave a concert in Langgaard hall at the top of Kannikegården. The group is on the road with a brand new album, which they have called “What the hell is going on?” It is the group’s second album.
Today’s concert had been bravely placed in the acoustically demanding hall at the top of Kannikegården. The hall is acoustically noisy – almost like staying in an old-fashioned cigar box. Here there is no reverberation – you get nothing rewarding. On the other hand, the sound is mega-honest and authentic. And that was exactly what you were told.
At the head of Baryl is the charismatic and exuberant vibraphonist Viktoria Søndergaard. At the concert, the group checked in with a handful of so-called unstructured compositions – music, or perhaps rather sound, that insatiably seeks boundaries and new directions. Søndergaard is a great gift. Her intelligent and sensitive handling of the vibraphone unleashes timbre that, with bass and drums in a slow crescendo, results in the most insane explosions.
The musicians call their titles tracks – I prefer the term sound collage. The instruments are played – and challenged in every way. Bass, drums, sax, vibraphone – they all get to show what they’re good at sonically. Parts of Baryl’s sound side are created through new and unconventional ways of mastering the instruments.
Occasionally you hear the musicians shout “What the fuck is going on?” Or the vibraphonist finds a roll of tape that starts with new insistent sounds when the tape is torn at certain intervals. The sometimes somewhat raucous explosions of sound are balanced by some more calm and beautiful passages. Opposites meet, which is an important part of the energy. The dynamics. The music is rarely rhythmic in the classical sense. On the other hand, dynamism and ingenuity are at the fore. This is where the renewal takes place. Who knows what the future holds?
It is probably not entirely wrong to claim that Baryl represents the narrow and innovative at this year’s jazz festival. New design for Danish music. Many thanks to the organizers for also thinking this kind of thing into the program. Baryl may very well set the tone in the new thinking of the music of the future. We better keep an eye on them.
