Jaga are a ten piece collective from Norway. Their latest release ‘What We Must’ is an intelligent assemble of tunes that is certainly stretching musical boundaries. We can see why it has released on Ninja Tunes as the arrangements stray into the progressive realm of music. The tracks aren’t that edgy and I wouldn’t expect that from them as they are from Norway, however they are creating something original and each track has it’s own character and originality. ‘Oslo Skyline’ for example starts with soft sounds from the synthesiser, flute and light percussion into a heavy prog rock sound belting out drums and eerie guitar. Some songs are eight minutes in length that shows how daring and
unconventional this band is. The tracks take you on a journey that have the same kind of depth of bands like the Doves, no vocals mind you, or bigger compositions like Amon Tomin. You can’t deny that Jaga are creating something new that incorporates the use of many instruments with futuristic sounds and it’s all cleverly syncopated to create a big sound. It’s hard to categorise them so for those looking for something original or want to be swept away with a plethora of different sounds may feel this is worth a listen. Prog rock lovers will like this.
