Børge Olsen ‘Music in the Dark’

Børge Olsen ‘Music in the Dark’

22 January 2021 – Fresh Tea Records

Words: Mark Green

From the magical depths of Norway comes this finger noodling piece of amazingness from Børge Olsen. entitled ‘Music In The Dark‘.

The music is a prog extravaganza, with elements of funk, jazz, heavy metal and a touch of classic rock. Børge Olsen showcases his guitar fingering wizardry. At times it is mind boggling. This feels like a journey through time and space on the back of a mystical creature from a land unknown.
This is some very magical, out of this world technicality. ‘Music in the Dark‘ is mostly instrumental in it’s output, with only one track featuring vocals, and another featuring beautiful, operatic singing sounds as though it were an instrument if its own. I don’t normally go for this kind of thing, but I’m feeling links from classic Pink Floyd to the likes of Mike Patton side projects such as Fantomas and Mr Bungle, but in a far more controlled way.

After the spaced out intro of ‘Analogue Injection‘, we’re straight in to what is the heaviest song on the album with ‘Bloody Moon‘, a cracking headbanger. We’re given just a tease of what Olsen has to offer, with split second moments of the man’s ridiculous skill. Halfway in to the track, we’re met with an off key solo that travels in to obsurd levels of skill, before being brought back to a sense of normality.
‘Skvulp‘ sounds like an 80’s TV show theme that’s been turned in to a rock cover with someone being let loose on a keyboard with space sounds. From this point on, we start to experience the full extent of Olsen’s technical skill, as well as a more eclectic mix of genres, from the calmness of ‘Music in the Dark‘ (the only song with singing), through to an insane 1960‘s space odyssey with ‘Question‘. At times, tracks sound like they could be placed in a select number of Sega Megadrive soundtracks, with likes of ‘Story‘ (possibly my favourite song from the album).

This is talent that deserves showcasing. My brain needs to untangle itself for a while now, I’ll let you know when I’m done.