Rare UK dates at Match&Fuse.

Pan-European music festival Match&Fuse is taking over Kings Heath venue the Hare and Hounds on Wednesday 26 October 2016.

The idea behind the festival is simple: organisers match bands from different countries who – once they’ve performed their own sets – are ‘fused’ together with other acts to create new works in a grand, and unexpected, finale.

Hosted by Jazzlines, Match&Fuse’s Birmingham mini-festival features three bands: Horse Orchestra, Krokofant and Stepmother Jag.

Winners of two 2015 Danish Music Awards, Horse Orchestra are rising stars of the Nordic underground scene. With members hailing from Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, tracks freely slide from 1920s New Orleans and Chicago styled jazz, into ’60s bop and improv’, via various surprising stylistic detours – all served with a sly wink.

Boasting a classic guitar/ bass/ drums line-up, Norwegian power trio Krokofant marry hard-boiled improvisation onto rock beats and driving rhythms. Heavily rooted in a progressive 1970’s jazz rock sound, reference points include King Crimson, early Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Zorn and Peter Brötzmann.

Helmed by Birmingham-based bass player Benedict Muirhead, Stepmother Jag draw their influences from jazz, folk and electronica. Their recently released self-titled debut album sees the ensemble explore very different landscape to their Nordic counterparts. But with an emphasis on melody, low end groove and twisted electronic sounds, they nonetheless share an eagerness for discovery.

Match&Fuse Mini-Festival takes place at the Hare and Hounds, High Street, Kings Heath, Birmingham, on Wednesday 26 October 2016. Tickets from £10 via: www.thsh.co.uk