Kvintetten Som Sprängdes: Svänger Så Det Svartnar

The sophomore release of Swedish quintet Kvintetten Som Sprängdes (The Quintet That Blew Up in English), after Järnet! (Found you Recordings, 2012) features a band with a mature, highly personal sound. The quintet's concise, articulate compositions by its founder, Gothenburg-based saxophonist Niklas Persson, stress dynamic and nuanced narratives, characterized by brief, surprisingly creative free improvisations and spontaneous confrontations. Persson's rich musical language flirts with diverse, seminal influences, beginning with Swedish sax hero Lars Gullin and continuing with the innovative extended techniques of Eric Dolphy and the sophisticated compositional tools of Anthony Braxton.

This strategy contributes to the highly vivid cinematic quality of the quintet's music. Persson's compositions suggest a world of visual metaphors and beautiful soundscapes. Compositions like the uplifting "Oh Sole Mio Jag Går På Bio" or darker "Hota Mita Hoj" and "Sorsele Solzhenitsyn" are populated with erratic, urgent shifts in energy and pulse with complex, intriguing structures that highlight the quintet's confident, thick interplay and the strong, opinionated voices of Persson, trombonist Christopher Alehed, pianist Rasmus Borg, double bassist Patric Thorman and drummer Martin Öhman. This approach culminates with the dramatic last piece, "Med Anledning Av Den Blöta Snön," a rashomon of conflicting musical ideas, where all musicians interpret from their own personal perspectives before agreeing on a common narrative.

On their sophomore release, Kvintetten Som Sprängdes already establishes itself as a band with clear confident vision and a unique, mature sound of their own.