with henrik Schwarz & Dan Berglund
Photo: Joachim Gern
When Bugge Wesseltoft and Henrik Schwarz produced their collaboration "Duo", it was clear that their synergy was both unique within, and revitalizing to, the whole genre of electro-acoustic beat-based improvisation. Now the duo becomes a trio, and the dialogue becomes a Trialogue.
Bassist Dan Berglund (est, Tonbruket) brings additional dimensions and a whole new range of improvisational possibilities, new musical conversational topics, and a completely new layer of sound, giving this project a different drive, yet retaining the spirit of the Duo project. A will to surprise – not just the audience, but themselves as well – dominates proceedings.
Moments of quasi-ambient atmosphere sit alongside driving energetic swathes of blues-inflected jamming from the future, near-metallic semi-sinister meteor storms of sound rest easily beside moments of classic jazz noire, and there is a marked assimilation of classical chamber sensibilities. Pokerfaced humour laces intricately woven improvisations, and the harmonic interplay guides the listener into passages of sumptuous soloing from Wesseltoft and Berglund.
Minimalist structures are re-crafted, building in hints of folk, eastern essences, spaciousness, and baroque inflections. A certain smoky jazz ambience pervades the whole, punctuated by moments where it feels like aliens have attempted to reconstruct jazz with just a few strands of musical DNA. Passages of the music are saturated with a fragile tension, bowed bass, lingering piano phrases, and endless static chatter. Sparse introductions seeming melt effortlessly into very tangible chord structures underpinned by gentle but insistent beats.
Yet this album is less overtly "electronic" than the Duo album created by Wesseltoft & Schwarz. Two of the 8 tracks on Trialogue (Movement Eleven and Movement Seventeen) feature an expanded acoustic line-up of strings and trombone, provided by musicians of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. The result is a more diverse soundscape, the sonic variations creating a different kind of engagement, bringing with them hints of classical chamber music, yet ably underpinned by echoes of rhumba, fusion, and perhaps even the faintest rumble of prog rock.
Where other musicians have engaged in similar stylistic juxtapositions, Wesseltoft, Schwarz and Berglund set themselves apart by managing the near-impossible feat of making a perfectly coherent aesthetic, a complete musical language of their own. This is a thoroughgoing post-postmodernist soundworld (let us leave it to critics to name it, as is their wont). What fans will recognise instantly is, simply put, great music.
HENRIK SCHWARZ (Computer/Percussion)
For over 20 years Henrik Schwarz has been one of the most sought-after producers of electronic dance music. His background is the Chicago/Detroit techno culture, but his musical career straddles many different projects.
He has composed film and ballet scores, as well as creating commissioned works for orchestras, chamber ensembles, cooperation with the likes of Nik Bärtsch, Hauschka, Guem. Schwarz produces dance mixes and productions for legends like Michael Jackson, Boy George, indie stars The Foals, Ane Brun, singers Mari Boine, Mark Murphy, Raoul Midon, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and many more. He performs at music festivals at major dance clubs throughout the globe.
DAN BERGLUND (Double Bass)
A rock music lover at heart Berglund been one important third of the group E.S.T., the Esbjorn Svenson Trio.
He made his way from the Royal Music University of Stockholm to the largest venues all around the globe.
Dan Berglund is legendary for his deep and full “Mingus-like” bass tone and his “Jimi Hendrixs-like” solos, using all manner of effects to make the double bass sound like screaming electric guitars. This has made him the sensation in many of e.s.t.´s concerts.
After the untimely and tragic death of Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund formed his own band, TONBRUKET, for which he also composes. Besides Dan Berglund, Tonbruket consists of Johan Lindstroem (guitars), Martin Hederos (piano) and Andreas Werliin (drums).
His addition to what was a duo does not merely mean it is "The Wesseltoft-Schwarz Duo plus Dan Berglund": his distinctive bass style and tone, and his attitude to composition and improvisation have reshaped the duo into a measurably different entity.