Ym-Stammen - 1997 - Guden I Steinen

(46:07; Apollon Records [2022 Reissue]  )

Track list:
1. Gripe 4:51
2. Guden I Steinen 4:04
3. Alu Alu Laukar 3:02
4. Store Alexander 3:55
5. (Gi Meg) Grid 2:57
6. Kappen Etter Vinden 3:53
7. Frihet Er Å Være Frisk 4:06
8. Troll (Sprekker Når Det Blir Lyst) 4:07
9. S.P.O.R. 3:54
10. Sigurds-Kvadet 6:22
11. Tusen Års Fortielse 2:49
12. Guden I Steinen 2 2:07

Line-up:
Trygve Mathiesen - vocals
Jo Langeland - guitars, vocals, aoud, keyboards, mandolin, sitar, percussion, saz, drums
Kai Lundewall - drums, vocals, percussion, hurdy-gurdy, samples
Douglas Alexandre - bass, vocals, hurdy-gurdy
Torben Snekkestad - saxophones, flutes, clarinets, percussion, Moog, keyboards, vocals
with:
Tore Ylvisaker - keyboards, programming


Norwegian band Ym-Stammen were active from sometime in the early 1980's and until the tail end of the 1990's, releasing six studio albums along the way and being a fairly attractive live band at home as well as abroad from what I understand. Their albums have long been out of print, and this year two of these have finally been reissued. "Guden i Steinen" dates back to 1997, and has now been reissued by Norwegian label Apollon Records.

This album was the final album by Ym-Stammen, and while I do not know why the band decided to retire their activities as a recording unit following this production it is at least safe to say that they concluded their recording activities on a high note.

As they had been doing all along, folk music elements remained a constant factor in the material explored. Mainly by way of the lead vocals and vocal harmonies, but also in terms of instrumentation and to some extent the structure and development of the composition. The band rarely hones in on a full fledged and purebred folk sound though, even on  the more traditional based 'Sigurds-Kvadet' world music elements and what may be jazz elements is a presence, and I believe the rhythms are generally a bit too extensive for this to be regarded as a more traditional medieval ballad as well. A song clearly related to the song 'Hevnerkvadet' from their previous album, yet also much different in execution.

A combination of acoustic rock, singer/songwriter material, world music elements, jazz and folk music are the ingredients most common and most commonly combined in some manner or other on this production, and even when the emphasis is on just one of those ingredients a closer listen reveals that many others are active as well. Cue 'Alu Alu Laukar' and 'Troll (Sprekker Naar Det Blir Lyst)' as good examples of songs that use many more elements from many more orientations than you notice when listening in a more superficial manner.

Of the Ym-Stammen albums I have explored in a bit more detail, "Guden i Steinen" is by far the album that features the most variation and the greatest amount of expressive details. Not that this latter aspect is dominant in any manner whatsoever, this is a production that at least when it was released would have had a fairly broad reach, but it is still much more expressive than what was the norm for popular, arguably mainstream music from the tail end of the 1990's.

This is a solid experience through and through, and a good example of a band that have developed their style to the very end of their history as a recording unit, with even the last album adding features and details and shifting focus to a new place again when compared to the previous album. A band that concluded their recording days on a creative high, and an album well worth investigating also some 25 years after it's initial release. This is a creative amalgam of rock and folk with elements from jazz and world music chiming in, and an album recommended to those who find that description interesting.

Olav M. Björnsen, March 2022

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Ymstammen-395448207284576
https://www.apollonrecords.no/