There are not many bands around able to materialize, through their music, not just their individual talent as musicians but also the Scandinavian rhythm of life and human nature as well as the Swedish collective Daniel Karlsson Trio does.
The band's new album, simply called 5 (being this indeed the band's fifth release), is one of those records that, straight from the first notes of the dreamy opening tune Dubious Whisper, captures immediately everyone's attention, intrigues and entertains the listener thanks to an instinctive, eclectic and imaginative sonic blend of Jazz, Ambient and occasionally, even Electronica.
The Trio, formed by Daniel Karlsson on Piano and Keyboards, Christian Spering on Double Bass, Cello, Dilruba & Tar Shenhai and Fredrik Runqvist on Drums and Percussion, has been together since 2013, when they debuted with the album called Das Taxibat. With each new record, their music has always been on a plateau of constant evolution, with the band searching constantly for the best way to spread their wings of creativity, every time in different directions. Something that has contributed, undoubtedly, to give a new and fresh dimension to every release of the Swedish collective.
With this new record, though, the Daniel Karlsson Trio reaches an even higher level of musical brilliancy. The band displays, through the 8 instrumentals included in the album, a fantastic craftmanship, switching from time to time from their trademark, free-form Jazz and Ambient signature sound to moment of elegant Cool Jazz (like in the tune called Let Me Tell You One More Thing) or more contemporary uptempo Jazz forms (Meet The Moiners), where the band introduces layers of Electronica and even low measures of Drum'N'Bass, to beautify even further a tune already splendidly conceived and executed.
One of the greatest aspects of 5, from a conceptual point of view, is for the band to be able to reach to the soul of the listeners solely through the melodic and, at times, abstract language of their compositions, without adding any lyrics at all to them. The depth of their sonic improvisations applied in each of the album's songs is mesmerisingly inspired and their erratic but captivating interplay is, truly, something of great artistic beauty
Among the all around great tunes present on 5, the track called Salzburg deserves a special, separate mention. This smooth Jazzy tune pulsates with the rhythms of the city life, with Karlsson & Co. laying down a monochromatic melody that fits perfectly the colors and the feeling of a vibrant city like Salzburg. The playing techniques and the variations used in the second part of the tune are greatly inventive, verging towards a more Fusion type of sound, something that does not alter the joyous and uplifting feeling of the tune but it adds, instead, an extra added spice to it.
Sometimes tender, other times ethereal, or dissonant, unpredictable or occasionally dark, 5 is an album that displays the true identity and talent of the Swedish collective. Their continuous search for musical perfection has taken the Daniel Karlsson Trio, through the years, to an intense and fascinating journey, culminated in a record like this that celebrates the band's great understanding and appreciation for music and the will to continue to explore the never ending highways of sound. If 5 is the shape of things to come for the Daniel Karlsson Trio, the musical future of this band is going to shine very brightly from now on.
5 is out now and it is available via Amazon
