The Russian pianist Yelena Eckemoff’s release machine rolls and rolls -one wonders when she finds the time to record her two to three albums a year. “Nocturnal Animals” is also a double album – like her many others – and her Scandinavian crew is extremely prominent: two drummers Jon Christensen and Thomas Strønen, and bass player Arild Andersen, with whom Eckemoff has often played, belong to the ECM nobility. In this album Eckemoff deals with the mysterious, which commands atmospheric structures of the “Scorpion”, makes the “Fox” swing and sets the tension in “Bat”.Eckemoff has also written poems that accompany each of her compositions (and of course they are printed in the booklet). Enjoy this album in small portions, since pieces like the majestic “Sea Turtle” magically draw you in, making the whole album “Nocturnal Animals” to be but a little too much of the good thing. rt
