“It’s not a concept album, no,” says Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad about her new release, Ekhidna, “but I also think it’s nice to have one thematic palette that I work within to find ways to attach this to something more concrete than just music.”
It takes its name from the mythological Ekhidna, a half-human/half-snake being who was the mother of a host of monsters in Greek mythology, from the many-headed Hydra to Cerberus, who guarded the entrance to Hades. Mollestad is best known for the six riff-packed, heavy rock meets progressive jazz albums that she’s cut with her trio featuring bassist Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad. However, Ekhidna sees her working in a new sextet playing music that she composed as a commission for the 2019 Vossajazz Festival.
“My daughter was very into dragons at the time,” says Mollestad, “so we were looking at what types of dragons there are in history. There are so many dragons and many monsters, each representing something that keeps your world of ideas going. When we saw Ekhidna, I knew instantly that this was the monster I was looking for. Being the mother of all the other monsters, it was clear to me that was going to be the embodiment of the project.”