RED KITE – This Too Shall Pass

RELEASE YEAR: 2026
BAND URL: https://thisisredkite.bandcamp.com/album/this-too-shall-pass

Formed back in 2013 and having released a couple of strong and robust-sounding records fueled by unfiltered enthusiasm and memorable riffs, Red Kite’s 3^rd opus titled This Too Shall Pass, which will be out via Is It Jazz? Records in June, marks a high point in the group’s career and sees the musically adventurous Norwegians conjuring up a magical musical landscape that is utterly engrossing. Jazz-rock (or jazz fusion, if you will) has rarely been as captivating as this in that these chaps seem to have thrown all their collective influences into a wonderful blender and by some miracle managed to create a delicious and potent cocktail that leaves a lasting taste. Is this LP what it would sound like if Thelonious Monk, King Crimson, Alice Coltrane, and Black Sabbath did a bit of jamming together? Regardless, Red Kite has spawned a marvelous set of songs that ebb and flow superbly well and encompass light and shade, intensity and emotion, dynamics and surprises, and an overwhelming fierceness when at their heaviest and most explosive. If you are curious as to how to merge pastoral calm, languid grooves, tense outbursts, and boldness, look no further than tracks such as “No Safe Harbour,” “Bernt,” and album closer “All’s Well That Ends.”  

When the interplay between the musicians is as brilliant and impressive as it is here and all aspects of the record including the song titles and artwork enhance each other, there is absolutely no reason not to invest your time and money in this stunning offering. Fancy a climactic musical fever dream where all its many flavors and figures somehow morph into a richly meditative whole? You have come to the right place.