Litangen: A Fine Line
daWorks Records

Originally from the Karmøy town of Skudeneshavn, Kjell Harald Litangen has become one of Norway's most valued session guitarists. After recording his debut solo album Diversions during lockdown at his home studio outside Oslo in August 2020, Litangen returns with a follow-up that's similar in some ways to the first but also a refinement; perhaps the major difference between them is the new one's slightly more pronounced electric character. While A Fine Line is enhanced by the contributions of guests, namely bassist Kjetil Dalland, trumpeter Ole Edvard Antonsen, drummer Torstein Lofthus, pianist Espen Eriksen, and guitarist Thomas T. Dahl, the album nevertheless retains the feel of a solo effort. The evidence at hand clearly shows Litangen to be a multi-instrumentalist capable of building tracks layer by layer into pieces that could pass for small group performances.

In eleven instrumentals, elements of folk, jazz, and rock fuse into melodically rich statements. Acoustic and electric guitars are assembled into oft-lyrical expressions similar in character to folk traditionals with long histories behind them. For Diversions, guitars were augmented by oud, banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, lap steel, guitalele, and dulcimer, and it sounds as if a similar arsenal was called upon for the production of A Fine Line.

The electric dimension emerges forcefully in the opening “Shine,”a multi-layered lament whose parts Litangen wove into a compelling tapestry. An ambient-electronic dimension is a central part of the arrangement too, functioning as it does as an atmospheric backdrop to the guitars. Whereas “Before I Go,” with Dalland on bass, is memorable for its plaintive tone, “Sunday Stew” distances itself from others for being playful and rustic. Elsewhere, the guests help individuate the material: Lofthus's drumming gives momentum to “Desember Waltz,” though not so forcefully it competes with the guitarist's playing; Eriksen's Fender Rhodes intensifies the atmospheric appeal of “A Time of Day”; and the folk charm of the standout track “Leilani” is bolstered by Antonsen's cornet.

A few times, things get loud—the one-two punch of Litangen and Dahl on “Full Circle,” for example, gives the track a scalding burn—but A Fine Line largely opts for texturally rich folk-styled settings. At thirty-seven minutes, the recording makes its case with admirable dispatch and, though it's apparently a digital release only, would lend itself effectively to a vinyl presentation.

November 2021