Trias – Trias

Trias seem to be going places very quickly. The young quartet (three fiddles, two doubling on viola, one on piano, and a bassist) had barely released their debut when they scooped the New Talent of 2012 title at the Danish Music Awards. And you know what? On the basis of that album they fully deserve it. It’s one of the most complete and accomplished starts I’ve heard, a band that arrives fully-formed and confident – but never cocky. Right out of the blocks the playing sparkles on Karrusellen, a wonderfully lively piece that allow for ample interplay between the three fiddles. It’s written by one of the band members Jonas Kongsted, who contributes four of the pieces here (the rest, apart from two traditional Danish offerings, come from other members of Trias), and showcases his superb compositional skills (one great melody would be luck – four of them is huge talent). Indeed, master fiddler Harald Haugaard singles him out in the sleeve notes and it’s easy to understand why. His work has that special something to set it apart. But, and it’s an important but, much of the credit goes to the others in Trias for the way they perform everything. There’s a deliciously sinuous quality to the playing; it’s very much alive, jumping out of the speakers when the tempo rises, and almost luminescent on something like Valhal or Vejrmølle Tur. In fact, at times the playing on the slow tunes, in tone at least, is reminiscent of Martin Hayes in the way it illuminates the melody. Truly great bands have a chemisty that comes out on disc, and Trias possesses that. Forget the shiny website, nice CD cover, all the peripheral stuff. It all boils down to the music, and Trias have that magical, elusive, indefinable ‘it’.