Biography
Red Kite brings together guitarist Even Helte Hermansen, bassist Trond Frønes, keyboardist Bernt André Moen and drummer Torstein Lofthus, four incredible musicians able to navigate complex prog-jazz architecture with both risk-taking, improvisatory jazz spirit and a brain-rattling hard rock intensity.
The release of Red Kite’s self-titled debut is cause for celebration among those with a taste for the adventurous and extreme. It’s a delirious set that fluidly elides genre boundaries with staggering vibrancy and galvanizing imagination.
“We all grew up listening rock and heavy music,” says Lofthus, “but later discovered jazz, prog and all kinds of other great stuff along the way. It’s all just music to us, to the point where it all just melts together into one big organic stew now.”
“(…) Red Kite constitutes a modern day Norwegian super-group. Its full-on sound fused super-charged rock with a free-jazz aesthetic -a sort of gothic Mahavishnu Orchestra for the 21st century. Red Kite’s energy was undeniable and Hermansen in particular impressed with one blistering solo after another. (…)” -Ian Patterson, allaboutjazz.com