We are happy to announce that Norway’s heaviest jazz band, Red Kite will release their 3rd album, “This Too Shall Pass”, on June the 19th on Is it Jazz? Records.
A lot has happened with the quartet since their last album in 2021. The work on their 3rd album has been delayed, since keyboardist Bernt A. Moen was going through some health issues that eventually led him to step down permanently.
The new single from the upcoming album is the track “Requiem for Bolla”, and it can be heard here:
The band has this to say about the track:
And now for something completely different! This is our little tribute to our friend’s cat. It was the first thing written for what would become the new album, and would perhaps suggest a slightly different direction for us.
Our keyboard player Bernt Moen suffered some health issues at the time, and would eventually step down permanently. So that was a pretty big blow. Fortunately, our old friend Ståle Storløkken was able to help us out on short notice. This track features him, as well as our newest member, Norwegian sax legend Gisle Johansen.
And so here’s our little banger in tribute of our friend’s dead cat. Please enjoy, and have yourselves a wonderful, little, miserable party!
About “This Too Shall Pass” and the process, the band explains:
What can we say? A lot happened, and none of it was good! Our friend’s cat disappeared. Even’s dad was hospitalized. A swan died. Bernt stepped down. Another friend of our’s died. We lost our heroes Ozzy and Ace. Then finally, the cat’s leg was found, Even’s childhood home burnt down, and the world wasn’t looking so sharp either. So yeah… It was interesting!
On the other hand, Gisle Johansen, our old friend, hero, and fully fledged Norwegian jazz legend, who originally only was going to guest on the album, has instead joined the band full time. So we’re really excited about that! And luckily for us, another old friend and hero of ours, Ståle Storløkken, was able to help out on the recording – which we’re also pretty freaking excited about! So it’s not all bad.
Terrible times were had by all, but also quite a few laughs. And in the end, the bad times – they too shall pass!
With artwork by Per Spjøtvold, the tracklist for “This Too Shall Pass” is:
1. Not to Be
2. Requiem for Bolla
3. Texas of Sweden
4. No Safe Harbour
5. For Ugly Ducklings
6. Bernt
7. Broken Hearts and Broken Bones
8. All’s Well that Ends
“This Too Shall Pass” will be released on the 19th of June in CD, Digital and Red Vinyl formats, and is available to pre-order now from:
Red Kite formed back in 2013 after Torstein Lofthus (drums), Even Holte Hermansen (guitar) and Bernt A. Moen (keyboards) had played together on Shining’s “Blackjazz” album. Even had played with Trond Frønes (bass) in Grand General and invited him to join. Since all of them had a rock and metal background, they wanted to explore their jazz inspirations from artists like Alice Coltrane with the heavy inspiration from bands like Black Sabbath and have fun with that. This led to the release of their debut in 2019 and followed up with a new one in 2021.
For more information about Red Kite:
www.facebook.com/thisisredkite