So we'll move straight on from 'Abist' to another release which has a classical foundation, but this time takes influences from the county of Norbotten, its forests and the local people, with melodic based music which includes folk, classical and jazz references.
'Folke Nikanor' is the musician who hails from this northern part of Sweden, and his new release 'Under Stenarna (Below the stones)' is the first from an up and coming album entitled 'Bottenviken', which I'm already really excited to hear based on this first release. As well as his cultural inspirations, 'Folke Nikanor' takes musical infleunces from artists such as Canadian musician 'Chilly Gonzales' through to the renowned Swedish pianist 'Jan Johansson', whose composition 'Jazz på svenska' is the best selling jazz release in Sweden.
Whilst some compositions take a while to sink in, I took an immediate liking to 'Under stenarna'. It opens with a simple enough piano theme, but immediately the melody is developed, and the clever intertwining instrumentals build with a mix of electronic and traditional sounds. And the key to the success of this is quite simply the lovely melodies, which do create the most vivid images in my mind of traditional life in 'Norbotten' - from the wildlife to the local people, it just feels like the most natural composition. I like too the competing rhythms which evolve as the track develops, and the whole piece has this subtle unpredictability, which allows it to meander off into some forgotten valley, or perhaps deeper underground.
The 'Folke Nikanor' album 'Bottenviken' will be released through the Swedish label 'Novoton' on the 26th October, and we can't promise we'll do a review, but we'll certainly try to squeeze one in...