Label: thanatosis produktion

自身も音楽家として活動するAlexander Zethsonが主宰、本国スウェーデンのコンテンポラリー、フリージャズ、エクスペリメンタルシーンの強者達の音源を次々と手掛けるレーベルthanatosis produktion。Alexander Zethson(足踏みオルガン担当)が中心となり、ヴァイオリン、アルトサックス、コントラバス、チェロ、アコースティック・ギター奏者らと結成した、疑似民族音楽をやるセクステット"VO"の1stアルバム。スカンジナビアン・フィドル・チューンズやらパキスタンのカウワリ等、世界各地のフォルクローレを思わせる異形の即興が実践された一枚で、演奏家それぞれが心地良いハーモニーを探求するという趣旨も納得出来る、終始素朴な心地良さが漂う大変気持ちの良い19曲。2CDというボリュームも最高。

>>SAMPLE<<

>>SAMPLE<<

>>SAMPLE<<

VÖ
Eva Lindal, violin

Anna Högberg, alto saxophone
 Johan Berthling, double bass

Leo Svensson Sander, cello

Alex Zethson, piano and pump organ
 Giannis Arapis, acoustic guitar

From the opening seconds it’s clear that the debut recording of the improvising sextet VÖ is not just another free improv session. The deeply meditative sounds may conjure disparate folk traditions from around the globe, whether Scandinavian fiddle tunes or the way Alex Zethson’s meandering pump organ evokes the exploratory harmonium lines in Pakistani qawwali music, but these associations are mostly coincidental. The ensemble members are devoted to improvised and experimental music mostly as an operating procedure. The sound seeking they engage in together ends up suggesting all sorts of traditions and approaches as a byproduct of spontaneous interplay, but there was no map guiding them. The places they take the listener are often unexpected, rewarding us with ravishing warmth, tenderness, and a powerful ambiguity. What exactly is this music?
Zethson assembled the sextet for a day-long session at Daniel Bengtson’s homey Studio Rymden in Stockholm in late March of 2021. The Greek guitarist Giannis Arapis was in town to work with another ensemble led by the keyboardist, who decided to take advantage of his presence with this first-time grouping—although many of the musicians have worked together in disparate contexts over the years. All of the music was created spontaneously with very little discussion beforehand, although Zethson did play the core of “Landsort 1916,” a theme he originally wrote for the 1917 silent film Terje Vigen, with the others improvising upon its form. None of them had ever heard it before the tape started rolling. The recordings illustrate the rapport these players immediately felt. Most of the album’s first disc features a quintet with Arapis, Zethson, double bassist Johan Berthling, cellist Leo Svensson Sander, and violinist Eva Lindal—saxophonist Anna Högberg, who was only able to spend a bit more than an hour in the studio, plays on many of the shorter, smaller group pieces, as well as the lone sextet piece on the first disc, the mournful “Let whatever is sounded be returned to the ground”. The probing quality of those pieces, which each participant exploring a lush, rustic sound field that often feels eternal in its stark beauty, is balanced by a powerfully unified execution.