Bremer / McCoy: Kosmos

It may seem unlikely, but two Danish musicians—one living on a farm commune, the other in a fast-paced urban environment, have amassed over 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The two former schoolmates, bassist Jonathan Bremer and pianist/tape delay specialist Morten McCoy, formed Bremer/McCoy in 2012, initially to play dub music, but their sound has since evolved into something unclassifiable that crafts dreamy soundscapes combining Nordic folk with jazz and electronica.

Mentioning electronica infers that delays, echoes, reverbs and effects are added in post-production; instead the reverse is true with the album being recorded "live" in the studio with McCoy maneuvering textures in real time. Their sixth album, Kosmos, features 10 short, slow-paced melodic vignettes with keyboards and bass sharing equal prominence. Their music sometimes evokes the Tord Gustavsen Trio or perhaps a slower, mellower version of the Emil Brandqvist Trio, with Swedish pianist Jan Johansson a clear influence. As McCoy explains, "We decided to call it Kosmos," he said, "because for us, it's this feeling of being able to transcend time and space and just be, which is a very important thing for humans. Even though it's quiet music, it's music that you're able to just dream: have your own dreams, your own inner images."

Opening track "Higher Road" begins with a burst of synthesizer and earthy double bass lines, as the duo's relaxing soundscape starts to take shape, providing a salve to today's chaotic lifestyles and background noise. Quietly uplifting with a delicate balance of space, the effects and echoes on the simple but beautiful keyboard melody soon feel completely natural. Bremer's bass brings a jazz—waltz feel to "Dream." This beautiful track unfurls gently (as does everything on the album), with electronic keyboards, piano and bass entwining to build shimmering aural textures.

Away from the tape delays, bass and piano form the foundational framework of each song. Some compositions emerge from melodic fragments that have lingered in the background for years. "Bøn" (Prayer) exemplifies this approach, with keyboard elements tracing melodic paths around a bass ostinato. Similarly, "Alting løser sig" (Everything Will Work Out) takes a shard of an idea and shapes and reshapes it, crafting another atmospheric and hypnotic sonic landscape.

The duo's improvisational style is built around expanding song ideas rather than based on individual solos; their sympathetic interaction comes to fruition on "Blomsten du sår," where Bremer builds a 6/8 rhythm for McCoy's classy melody and on the melancholy restraint of "Hvor du er" (Where Are You). As Bremer explains, "If, as a musician, you think, 'now this and that must happen,' you place yourself outside the music. We want to play as if we are merely listening to the music emerge. That is the ultimate freedom."

Listening to this ambient and dreamy music can evoke a meditative, almost trance-like state—and that, of course, is part of the intention, drawing the listener into the musician's voyage of song exploration. When they tour, they bring their own sound system, enabling new effects to be applied spontaneously in the moment. A listener can lose themselves in this music; it can provide solace, it can sooth, or it can simply flow alongside your thoughts as your unconscious mind unwinds.