Hedvig Mollestad is one of the toughest ladies playing the guitar. She plays with her own trio, a very personal mix of intricate jazz and pure heavy gutar rock. The trio has been on a hiatus while Hedvig Mollestad has been home with here baby, but now they are back with a vengeance. Yesterday they played at John Dee for an enthusiastic audience.

There is something refreshing about musicians for whom there are seemingly no techniqual challenges or limitations. Hedvig Mollestad is a virtuoso guitarist, and she is matched by her excellent bassist Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad. They go through heavy riff-based parts, through intricate passages with asymmetric rhythms to melodic grooves. And all is played with a natural authority.

The band’s repertoire is purely instrumental, and at John Dee they played a mix of songs from their three albums, Shoot, All Of Them Witches and Enfant Terrible. The band’s style in rhythms and phrasing is mostly jazz, but played with heavy rock aesthetics.

On stage Hedvig Mollestad always wears sequined dresses and high heals. Ellen Brekken wears her red dress, while drummer Bjørnstad wears a red sequined blouse. They present a nice visual contrast to their hard music. Both Mollestad and Brekken uses the stage well with their moves. As I have stated before, the trio format is a difficult one, but I am never bored while listening to Hedvig Mollestad Trio.

If you live i Trondheim, you can check for yourself at Blæst this Saturday. You can also read Rolling Stone rock guru David Fricke‘s summary of his best concert experiences in 2014. Or you can listen to their albums.

Here are the songs the band played: For The Air, Ashes, Code Of Hammurabi, The Valley, The Rex, Indian driving, Lake acid, Achilles, Rastapopoulos Arigato, bitch, The new Judas

All pictures are © Per Ole Hagen and must not be used without written permission.