Austin Edition

Brandon Seabrook – guitar

Jacob Sacks – piano & organ

Kenny Wollesen – drums

Eivind Opsvik – Bass and compositions

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As bassist-composer, as well as producer and mixing engineer, Opsvik has made five albums with his alt-jazz band Overseas. All About Jazz praised his achievement with these albums – starting with Overseas (Fresh Sound, 2003), Overseas II (Fresh Sound, 2005), Overseas III (Loyal Label, 2008) and Overseas IV (Loyal Label 2012) – as that of a “masterful tunesmith” with a vision for producing music “unlike anything else.” Time Out New York singled out Overseas IV as one of the “freshest” albums of the year, while DownBeat extolled the record for creating its “own musical universe.”

 

The latest in the series, Overseas V, came out in March 2017 via Loyal Label, which is Opsvik’s own imprint. The hooks-galore writing, artful production and sublime playing remain constant in Opsvik’s work, but in the place of the Baroque atmospherics of Overseas IV are post-punk influences, from the melodic bass lines of Joy Division/New Order to the funky stutter of Talking Heads. Then there is the inspiration of Brian Eno’s early avant-rock LPs – catchy, off-kilter songs played by great musicians.

 

The latest, road-honed version of Opsvik’s Overseas band features close longtime friends, who happen to be some of the most compelling improvisers on New York’s creative music scene: saxophonist Tony Malaby, guitarist Brandon Seabrook, keyboardist Jacob Sacks and drummer Kenny Wollesen.