Hess Is More

Drummer/band-leader isn’t often a role you see within a band but then again, there isn’t anything especially normal about Hess Is More. Led by brothers Mikkel and Nikolaj Hess, the New York/Copenhagen act play a peculiar fusion of kraut-rock and jazz with a flair for the percussive.

Their disdain for convention carries on into their live show where Mikkel leads the band with his back to the audience like a conductor would, except most conductors aren’t sitting at a drum kit. The band spread out on stage before him, a bizarre mix of percussion, both acoustic and electric, guitars, saxophones and pianos which are all called upon to form the unique Hess Is More sound. As the beats build and tempo speeds up the sound takes on an almost tribal energy, with drums beats syncopating and colliding in a dramatic fashion. There is a sense of organised chaos about the experience as no matter how loose the compositions feel, you know that it’s going exactly to plan. And that’s what Hess Is More do, combine the percussive rigidity of krautrock with the freeform energy of jazz with unconventional but highly positive results.