Food formed in the late 1990s, with Loose Tubes saxophonist Iain Ballamy, drummer Thomas Strønen (Norway’s sonically ingenious equivalent of the UK’s Sebastian Rochford) and trumpeter Arve Henriksen in the original lineup. Latterly it has been a Ballamy/Strønen duo with Austrian guitarist/electronicist Christian Fennesz as a regular guest, which is the group here. Food shifted from free jazz to a more sampled sound after 2002’s Veggie, and this set – extensively reprocessed after the live takes by Strønen in the studio – is seductively groove-inclined, too. Delicate brush-hisses, pattering footstep sounds, flaring echo-guitar chords and tense hip-hop fidgets partner ambient drones. Ballamy’s tenor is as stately and Coltrane-like as a train-rhythm chatter, and Fennesz’s spacey guitar sounds drive him on the standout track, Exposed to Frost. Ringing cymbal pings and busy hip-hop squalls transform the simple long-tone sax notes on Earthly Carriage and Without the Laws. The album belongs more to Strønen than Food’s previous recordings, and it’s none the worse for that.
