Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra
'In this forever unfolding moment' is the debut release by a new, 13-piece ensemble assembled by Swedish bass player and composer Vilhelm Bromander, released september 29th 2023 on the Swedish label Thanasosis. It’s a sparkling Spiritual Jazz album, featuring three extended, stellar compositions by Bromander, performed by some of the most urgent voices from the Swedish scene of jazz- and improvised music, together with the otherworldly voice of dhrupad singer Marianne Svašek. In the music Bromanders love of jazz and northindian raga melts together and in the meeting is born a caringly wild-grown music with a heartfelt and powerful expression. Bromander has twelve phenomenal musicians to help him, and it is in the meeting of their voices and dedication that the music has become what it is – collective, full of hope, care and resistance.
Vilhelm Bromander, double bass
Katt Hernandez, violin
Martin Küchen, alto and sopranino saxophone
Elin Forkelid, tenor saxophone
Alberto Pinton, baritone saxophone
Christer Bothén, bass clarinet
Emil Strandberg, trumpet
Mats Äleklint, trombone
Alex Zethson, piano
Mattias Ståhl, vibraphone
Dennis Egberth, drums
Anton Jonsson, drums
Marianne Svašek, vocals & tanpura
'In this forever unfolding moment' is the debut release by a new, 13-piece ensemble assembled by Swedish bass player and composer Vilhelm Bromander, released september 29th 2023 on the Swedish label Thanasosis. It’s a sparkling Spiritual Jazz album, featuring three extended, stellar compositions by Bromander, performed by some of the most urgent voices from the Swedish scene of jazz- and improvised music, together with the otherworldly voice of dhrupad singer Marianne Svašek. In the music Bromanders love of jazz and northindian raga melts together and in the meeting is born a caringly wild-grown music with a heartfelt and powerful expression. Bromander has twelve phenomenal musicians to help him, and it is in the meeting of their voices and dedication that the music has become what it is – collective, full of hope, care and resistance.
Vilhelm Bromander, double bass
Katt Hernandez, violin
Martin Küchen, alto and sopranino saxophone
Elin Forkelid, tenor saxophone
Alberto Pinton, baritone saxophone
Christer Bothén, bass clarinet
Emil Strandberg, trumpet
Mats Äleklint, trombone
Alex Zethson, piano
Mattias Ståhl, vibraphone
Dennis Egberth, drums
Anton Jonsson, drums
Marianne Svašek, vocals & tanpura
Downbeat Magazine 5/5. Masterpiece of 2023. "Swedish bassist Vilhelm Bromander has been an increasingly important and versatile part of Stockholm’s creative music scene for years, and his various interests and abilities coalesce with staggering power on In This Forever Unfolding Moment(..) Ignore these sounds at your own peril”
Jazz of the year 2023 Manifestgalan
”Ett modigt projekt med flera av Sveriges mest spännande musiker. Äventyrligt och njutbart på samma gång. Utforskande med en klar riktning åt alla håll. Ett helt nytt universum vecklar ut sig.”
The WIRE. "Listeners who´ve followed Swedish double bassist Vilhelm Bromander's recent works have doubtless cottoned onto the persistent focus of his music, regardless of its broader context. If it always makes an impression of rigorous lushness, the arc of drone he peals out from his double bass sometimes feels rugged and rough-housing, but elsewhere, it effortlessly carries the music's melodic weight”
Bandcamp, best jazz october -23 "The charge on this large ensemble recording from Vilhelm Bromander keeps building endlessly, as if nurturing a flame into a bonfire. The spectrum that’s traversed, from nuanced drone to explosion of chaos, is nothing less than thrilling, and the interludes of serenity are stunning just by way of comparison—sublime on their own merits”.
Jazz of the year 2023 Manifestgalan
”Ett modigt projekt med flera av Sveriges mest spännande musiker. Äventyrligt och njutbart på samma gång. Utforskande med en klar riktning åt alla håll. Ett helt nytt universum vecklar ut sig.”
The WIRE. "Listeners who´ve followed Swedish double bassist Vilhelm Bromander's recent works have doubtless cottoned onto the persistent focus of his music, regardless of its broader context. If it always makes an impression of rigorous lushness, the arc of drone he peals out from his double bass sometimes feels rugged and rough-housing, but elsewhere, it effortlessly carries the music's melodic weight”
Bandcamp, best jazz october -23 "The charge on this large ensemble recording from Vilhelm Bromander keeps building endlessly, as if nurturing a flame into a bonfire. The spectrum that’s traversed, from nuanced drone to explosion of chaos, is nothing less than thrilling, and the interludes of serenity are stunning just by way of comparison—sublime on their own merits”.
Aurora
Released January 14, 2022 by Warm Winters Ltd. as WW016
The word "aurora" is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, who travelled from east to west announcing the coming of the sun. Vilhelm Bromander’s new suite titled aurora similarly signals the arrival of a new chapter in the Swedish bass player, composer and improviser’s creative endeavours.
Aurora is an album of ten pieces written for an extended woodwind ensemble. The music has a gentle, fragile and somewhat naive sound – perhaps a result of half the ensemble exploring new instruments (Bromander himself plays soprano saxophone). The instrumental identities are blurred; reeds, bowed strings and organ form together a warm, inviting, collective sounding body.
Aurora is an album of ten pieces written for an extended woodwind ensemble. The music has a gentle, fragile and somewhat naive sound – perhaps a result of half the ensemble exploring new instruments (Bromander himself plays soprano saxophone). The instrumental identities are blurred; reeds, bowed strings and organ form together a warm, inviting, collective sounding body.
The compositions themselves feel like glimpses of light, air and mystery. They are open-ended, floating, yet each composition still explores a specific theme, mood, or feeling – like trying to describe the scent of a flower, or the feeling of the wind gently caressing your neck. “I embraced trying to compose music as romantic and beautiful as I was able to” says Bromander” but contrasting this by playing it strictly, consciously not syncing breaths and phrasing. That tension, between the strict playing and the romantic compositions is for me a key to this music: like drone music cut up into smaller sections and pieces that when combined create melody.”
Vilhelm Bromander – soprano saxophone, pump organ and percussion
Johan Graden – clarinet, piano and pump organ
Mauritz Agnas – clarinet and double bass
Emma Augustsson – cello
Pelle Westlin – soprano saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet
Anton Svanberg – tuba
Johan Graden – clarinet, piano and pump organ
Mauritz Agnas – clarinet and double bass
Emma Augustsson – cello
Pelle Westlin – soprano saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet
Anton Svanberg – tuba
Released January 14, 2022 by Warm Winters Ltd. as WW016
"aurora is a singularly remarkable work of delicate woodwind and brass compositions."
– A Closer Listen
– A Closer Listen
"Contemplation leads to a surprising display of resilience and Bromander’s pensive compositions are a map through the outside chaos."
– Foxy Digitalis
– Foxy Digitalis
"Its harmonies push and pull for separate and synchronous emotivities, at once low and hopeful, elegiac jubilations, a cordial malaise."
– harmonic series
– harmonic series
"At its heart lies an attempt to interpret romantic music in a strict way. This results in a tension that gives the bittersweet music an eerie undertone."
– field notes
– field notes
"a luminous journey inside autumnal landscapes, lulled by the swaying of branches with scintillating melodic foliage."
– SilenceAndSound
– SilenceAndSound
"an extremely beautiful suite"
– Salt-Peanuts
– Salt-Peanuts
On the record there are two tracks, each one presenting a sound that on the surface seems static, but reveals a very liveful and mysterious music from within the sound, rich in form and variation.
It could be a forgotten music, unearthed from the vacuum of nonusage, reincarnating into a musical form sounding obscure and nevertheless familiar, human.
Vilhelm Bromander & Fredrik Rasten materialize resonant sound with double bass, guitar and subtle vocal shadings. The music puts just intonation on display and explores its potential in improvised as well as composed music. On...for some reason that escapes us, the instrumental and vocal sounds entwine into a collective body of harmonics, interference and difference tones; a complex wherefrom a tangible sonic space arises and listening becomes tactile. The music echoes an imagined old music, inhabiting both melodic and textural entities in continual motion.
Kommun
Ephemeralds is the first record by Finn Loxbo’s new ensemble and marks a distinct development in the guitarist’s compositional practice. Performing together with pianist Lisa Ullén, kontrabassist Vilhelm Bromander and percussionist Ryan Packard, Loxbo has set up a situation of intense focus, dissolving individual identities into a collective sound world of resolute clarity. Each musician manipulates a collection of tightly stipulated pitch material whilst bringing the shared timbral qualities of each instrument into close proximity. Uniquely, this dissolution of identity happens without relying on a blur of sustained tones. The music remains hard. A chiselled, gleaming beauty, but one hung in a precarious assemblage of rhythmic co-dependence. With Ephemeralds, the act of listening both invokes and displaces our memories, phrases and combinations slip away at the very point they coalesce.
Kommun
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foto: Isabell Gustafsson-Ny
Ephemeralds is the first record by Finn Loxbo’s new ensemble and marks a distinct development in the guitarist’s compositional practice. Performing together with pianist Lisa Ullén, kontrabassist Vilhelm Bromander and percussionist Ryan Packard, Loxbo has set up a situation of intense focus, dissolving individual identities into a collective sound world of resolute clarity. Each musician manipulates a collection of tightly stipulated pitch material whilst bringing the shared timbral qualities of each instrument into close proximity. Uniquely, this dissolution of identity happens without relying on a blur of sustained tones. The music remains hard. A chiselled, gleaming beauty, but one hung in a precarious assemblage of rhythmic co-dependence. With Ephemeralds, the act of listening both invokes and displaces our memories, phrases and combinations slip away at the very point they coalesce.
Kommun
Finn Loxbo - Acoustic Guitar
Lisa Ullén - Grand Piano
Vilhelm Bromander - Bass
Ryan Packard - Percussion
foto: Isabell Gustafsson-Ny