WIRE Magazine

As sure as winter turns to summer, after Sheriffs of Nothingness' first CD «A summer's night at the crooked forest» there had to be a sequel. «A winter's night at the crooked forest» is a little chillier than its predecessor, it's true, but otherwise Kari Rønnekleiv (violin) and Ole-Henrik Moe (viola) remain obsessed with hybrid string textures, the microtonal wobble of one instrument bleeding into the other, bows pushed hard against strings to generate rude, volatile sounds. Sofa is keen to remind us that the disc was recorded in the middle of a forest in a cabin with no electricity. The recording equipment was, apparently, powered by solar panels. All very Norwegian. But that would mean little if these improvisations didn't have an appropriately backswoodman quality - rough cuts, no place for urban civility.