Exoterm - Exits Into a Corridor

Recorded over two days in Brooklyn in January 2018, Exoterm’s ‘Exits into a Corridor’ presents a new Norway/US supergroup playing compositions by bassist Rune Nergaard that mix thrashy, take-no-prisoners improv with dreamy, electronically-assisted soundscapes.

Tough, muscular bass riffs from Nergaard and blasting, out-there saxophonics from Kristoffer Berre Alberts are complemented by the complex, multi-faceted musical personalities of drummer Jim Black and guitarist Nels Cline - both total legends in their field - to produce a distinctively edgy blend of influences and attributes.

"What unites us is our love of jazz, rock and improvised music. In this band every rule and musical boundary is torn down, and we combine our musical influences in one, big gumbo of sound.” says Rune Nergaard.

Nels Cline has been the guitarist for Wilco since 2004, and played in a huge range of jazz, rock and avant-garde settings since his recording debut 40 years ago. A major name in US jazz and improvised music since his work with Dave Douglas, Tim Berne and Uri Caine in the Nineties, Jim Black plays the drums like no one else. His own group, AlasNoAxis, has recorded six albums since its debut in 2000.

As well as collaborating with Rune Nergaard in a variety of projects, Kristoffer Berre Alberts plays with the band Cortex, as part of Paal Nilssen Love’s Large Unit, and with Starlite Motel. He also records and performs in duos with the celebrated English free-jazz drummer Steve Noble, and with the Norwegian electronicist Lasse Marhaug.

Exoterm the band is more than simply the sum of its parts, and the collective sound the four members produce develops its own momentum. Rather than following some well-worn formula of sequential solos or theme-improv-theme methodology, the album’s modus operandi would seem to be that there is no set method at all: the players just go for it, relying on empathy more than competitive licks or grandstanding chops. The result is densely textured, sometimes difficult to decode, musical moments or ‘cells’ that change and adapt as they progress, like the pulsing globules of oil and water in some freaky psychedelic light-show.