In a spot of Money Will Ruin Everything 2-induced nostalgia, I thought it would be pretty interesting to look back at that very first batch of releases on the Rune Grammofon label, seeing how the label has evolved in the eleven years of its existence. Thinking about the label as it is now, with the likes of Susanna, In The Country, and Hilde Marie Kjersem on the roster, I expected to see a gradual softening round the edges over the years. That doesn’t seem to be the case – amongst the first dozen or so releases were albums described by the label themselves as “vaguely in the Radiohead area” and “trip-hop and minimalist country“. Rune Kristofferson’s stewardship has, it seems, always somehow steered this ship from stormy seas to safer waters and back, and with him on this deck throughout the entire voyage have been two collections of quick-thinking old hands: Supersilent and SPUNK.

The members of SPUNK – Kristin Anderson, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Maja Ratke, and Lene Grenager – seem to reconvene increasingly sporadically these days, with four years having elapsed since their last for the label. In the mean time, the members have been involved in a variety of fascinating projects, Ratke having released an album on John Zorn’s Tzadik, and Tafjord’s solo work (for massively distorted french horn, no less) on Lasse Marhaug’s Picadisk imprint grabbing my attention a year or so ago. Once again on Kantarell these four classically-trained musicians have produced something which sounds utterly un-classical, something in fact completely un-categorisable. Acoustic and electronic elements blur together so as to render the distinction immaterial, although it does perhaps feel more organic than their previous work. “Mosegrodd” features a cello which squeaks like it is made of rubber, and some electronics which sing like crickets. “Bipolar” builds to a white noise crescendo of bleating horns and squealing strings, instruments swimming for their lives amongst squally white noise.

Supersilent are a suitable reference point for the frantic improvisation of “Eaten“, although it sounds like nothing other than that band being sucked into the mandibles of a masticating mantis. The work of these two bands forms a reliably unreliable backbone for the label, and with Kantarell SPUNK are back with a delightful and thrilling career best. It is available now.