Daniel Sommer / Arve Henriksen / Johannes Lundberg | Sounds & Sequences | October 25, 2024
Danish drummer Daniel Sommer proudly presents the second installment of his critically acclaimed Nordic Trilogy, a project aiming to capture and document Nordic improvisation and composition across three carefully curated ensembles. Featuring Swedish bassist Johannes Lundberg and Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen, ‘Sounds & Sequences’ is set to release on April Records on October 25th.
A followup to ‘As Time Passes’ featuring Sommer alongside UK guitarist Rob Luft and Norwegian ECM bassist Arild Andersen, the project develops as Sommer says, “not to try to make the same kind of music three times in a row, but rather to shed light on Nordic improvisation today from various angles and perspectives.”
With a focus on vulnerability, intuition, and the dialogue between electronic and acoustic sounds, ‘Sounds & Sequences’ offers a striking contrast in aesthetic and mood to the previous record, tied together by a shared sense of refined musical literacy, poetic sensitivity and open-hearted exploration.
Drawing inspiration from chamber music, spiritual jazz, and electronic and ambient music, the trio made several visits to Studio Epidemin in Gothenburg several times between March 2022 and December 2023, recording music with no set goals or briefs. Faced with a large volume of recordings, the group then set about compiling their free improvisations into a cohesive statement with form, narrative and direction.
“We simply improvised, listened, discussed, and improvised again until something emerged.”
With the interactive, spacious, and dynamic sound of live trio performances at its core, bowed upright bass harmonics, Henriksen’s lamenting trumpet melodies, and Sommer’s grooving, textural approach to the kit are plunged into a powerful, ethereal universe decorated with screeching distortion, fluttering delays, soaring overtone singing, gritty bit crushers and cavernous reverbs.
Line up
Daniel Sommer | Drums
Arve Henriksen | Trumpet, Electronics, Vocals
Johannes Lundberg | Double Bass, Electronics
Track Listing
Vejen til Epidemin
Hey, SuperheroSkyggespil
Trumsolo
Blue-Seven
Gothenburg Volume Three
End Wave
Sounds and Sequences
Ego Ekko
Beautiful Daisy
Powerglass
PR Quotes
Downbeat (US)
“epic vastness of fog-laden fjords with floating melodic lines and lush woodwinds”
Jazzwise (UK)
“a melancholy electro acoustic sountrack one imagines could be heard on the wind as it whistles down from Europe’s cold and beautifle north”
Jazz.sk (SK)
“a well-thought-out compositional unit in which each note has its irreplaceable place”
Backseat Mafia (UK)
“music of hidden depths and shifting emotions that will take you to different shorelines each time”
Esensja (PL)
“will give many a jazz lover enormous pleasure”
Blue in Green (UK)
“yet another testament to Ross McHenry’s phenomenal and ever-evolving mastery that has garnered without doubt one of his most compelling projects to date.”
Stereophile (US)
“McHenry is an artist with a powerful vision”
Az Samad Lessons (MY)
“there is so much energy and communication within the ensemble… it is contagious.”
Stereogum (US)
“best jazz albums of 2024”
JazzLife (JP)
“a dramatic and cinematic musical landscape, bringing poetry to life through sound”
All About Jazz (US)
“Packed with unpredictable forms, formats, rhythms and moods… yields surprises at each listening”
Jazztrail (USA)
“bristles with heartfelt sentiment and rich sounds, making it a captivating listening experience”
Goldmine Magazine (US)
“a rare symbiosis of boundary-pushing experimentation, stop-on-a-dime collaboration, dense harmonics and lamenting melodies”
LMF (PL)
“McHenry weaves memories and present with incredible subtlety”
Jazz Weekly (US)
“filled with a mix of experimentation, passion and propulsion”