Review: Janove – “The Black Carnival”

Rock

Published:

2021

Record label:

Records Night

«In Kaizers land.»

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ALBUM: Were you one of the many who loved the “circus rock” of the Kaizers Orchestra, which had an adventurous career on record and stage from 2001 to 2013? If so, I have good news for you.

Kaizers again

The solo artist Jan Ove Ottesen (45), in recent years only Janove, is the one who has been closest to the “ompa band” in the expression – and never closer than in the pandemic-exposed “The Black Carnival”. This is not so strange, since he was responsible for most of the lyrics and music, events and partly also production in Kaizers. It peaked with “Maestro”, which received a six of this reviewer in 2005.

“Maestro” was produced by Janove in collaboration with Jørgen Træen, who has worked closely with both Kaizers and Janove for a number of years – and who has mixed and mastered the nine tracks that make up “The Black Carnival”. Maybe that’s how the Kaizers would have sounded today if they had reunited?

New careers

After eight albums and live success in several European countries, the band took a “break” in 2013 – without there being any indication that it will re-emerge immediately. For – the members have been given other things to think about. Norwegian rock received new constellations in the form of the projects of Geir Zahl, Terje Winterstø Røthing’s successful band project Skambankt and thus Janove.

When the Kaizers were put on ice, Janove hired his wife as boss

In dialect

Janove’s solo debut – in English – came already in 2004. «The Black Carnival» is solo album number three in Stavanger dialect, in addition to two EPs. At the same time he has worked with musical and theater music.

«Artists & Marlene» (2017) and «Hengtmann» (2018) did not quite appeal to Dagbladet’s reviewers, but here Janove “strikes” back for good!

Pretension

The starting point for “The Black Carnival”, the idea of “Bring to life a traveling adventure that arrives in the continental European gems of Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and London, in a locomotive with all its characters and their stories falling apart”, is admittedly pretentious. But it’s an adventure of an album.

Janove’s text universe is both special and strange, but it’s not a must understand titles like “A rich well that lies”, and not the cryptic text either, so long the music then catches to the degree – here with Micke Lohse’s redeeming spinet and organ and guest musician Mattias Hellberg’s fiery guitars as a powerful engine.

It is not always as easy to perceive the texts in dialect rather, but the cash groovet and playfulness is the glue in this project. You will recognize some of the wildness in the music from the Kaizers, but it is a more streamlined and controlled wildness. We can definitely live with that.

Live i studio

The Janove band has worked together since 2017 and have become so co-produced that the songs have been recorded live in the studio. And who are the “conspirators”? Børge Fjordheim (Cloroform) plays drums, Gulleiv Wee (The September When) plays the bass, Dag Sindre Vagle (Helldorado) plays guitar and marimba, Swedish Micke Lohse (Atomic Swing) keeps track of piano, spinet and keyboards, Renate Engevold, Einar Halle and Benedicte Årsland contributes on violin and cello, and Janove sings.

– So insanely much travel. It was digg that it ended

«Soft fanfare»

«Flowers from a grave» is easily Stones-inspired, «Tanker» drags forward, led by the strings, “Up of ruins” can be found in the stripped-down version of the EP «Barricade Ballads» (2020), but is dressed up in a rock suit here, “Error in my mirror” is hefty cabaret music and “Like you” is noise rock, while the dot is set with more subdued and – in a small passage – slightly Queen-inspired “The World’s Longest Farewell”. It is a seven minute long “soft fanfare” that starts with piano and floats over for ten minutes with a tough train that disappears in the distance while the wind howls and waves crash over land – just like in the introduction to the title track and a few others places.

A long goodbye, and you may only hear that sequence once – if you do not want to renew the music for the meditation class. But it has been forgiven for a long time. Janove has made their best and most varied album since Kaizers Orchestra was on everyone’s lips.

This autumn, there will be concerts in the largest Norwegian cities.

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