Gazpacho MoloK

Gazpacho are a progressive art rock band from Oslo, Norway.

The original core band of Jan-Henrik Ohme (vocals), Jon-Arne Vilbo (guitars) and Thomas Andersen (keyboards, programming, producer) started making music together in 1996 and the band has since expanded with Mikael Krømer (violin, co-producer), Lars Erik Asp (drums) and Kristian Torp (bass).

Featuring one of the strongest concepts yet, it is 44ish minutes of new original music and it is a dark and beautiful journey.

1. Park Bench
2. The Master’s Voice
3. Bela Kiss
4. Know Your Time
5. Choir of Ancestors
6. ABC
7. Algorithm
8. Alarm
9. Molok Rising

1. Park Bench [6:54]
2. The Master's Voice [4:08]
3. Bela Kiss [2:43]
4. Know Your Time [6:09]
5. Choir Of Ancestors [4:48]
6. ABC [3:20]
7. Algorithm [3:09]
8. Alarm [3:53]
9. Molok Rising [9:35]

Across the album there are religious themes going head to head with modern day new science ideas and theories, Gazpacho’s Thomas Andersen states, ‘the album itself is about a man that sometime around 1920 decides that wherever anyone worships a God they always seem to be worshipping stone in some form. Whether it is a grand cathedral, the stone in Mecca or Stonehenge. God seems to have been chased by his worshipers into stone never to return. This harkens back to Norwegian folk myths where if a troll was exposed to sunlight it would turn to stone but it also reflects the way God has been incommunicado for a very long time.’

The band go on to say, ‘In a mechanistic view of the universe all events in the universe are a consequence of a previous event. This means that with enough information you should be able to calculate the past and the future and this is what he does. He names the machine ‘Molok’ after the biblical demon into whose jaws children were sacrificed because his machine crunches numbers. On solstice day he starts the machine and it quickly gains some form of intelligence as it races through history undergoing its own evolution.‘

Throughout ‘Molok’ the band focus on the idea that without God/a god to guide us, humanity is unsure of the meaning of life, that while we attempt to fill the void with other things we’ve still not found the answer and without a master to lean on we are very much alone in this universe.

On the album Gazpacho make a direct connection with history. Norwegian music archaeologist Gjermund Kolltveit appears on the song “Molok Rising” plays his reconstruction of stone-age instruments making an educated guess at what the early songs of worship must have sounded like. This includes small stones, moose jaws and an assortment of flutes and stringed instruments. He also plays the Skåra stone, a singing stone which has a strong possibility of having been in use since the last ice age ended 10.000 years ago. Technically this means that the album uses the oldest original instrument ever recorded on an album.

The band are also joined by world-renowned Norwegian accordion player Stian Carstensen who is a central member of Balkan-jazz orchestra Farmers Market.