Over the course of three albums, the Swedish band Tonbruket has earned a reputation as intrepid tightrope walkers between progressive rock, avant-garde folk and blinkered jazz. This was possible because the quartet brought together four individualists who had already made a name for themselves in different contexts.
Tonbruket's first three albums describe a continuous journey. "Tonbruket" (2009), "Dig It To The End (2010) and "Nubium Swimtrip" (2013) make for an inseparable continuum.
At the beginning of the new album was the end of a creative phase. After their last road trip "Nubium Swimtrip" Berglund, Lindström, Hederos and Werliin took a break. The reason was by no means that the band was burnt out, but on the contrary, there was simply too much to do. Each of the four musicians is involved in numerous external projects, which in turn benefits the group as a whole. But these other projects also need to be taken care of. Andreas Werliin, in particular, wanted to focus more on his bands "Fire!" and "Wildbirds & Peace Drums." Berglund, Lindström and Hederos, meanwhile, accepted the commission to contribute music for a Kaurismäki production at the Royal Dramatic Theatre Stockholm. In keeping with the Finnish director's aesthetic, the band filled the musical margins with, among other things, some tangos and polkas that gave them new points of contact.
The fourth album is a complete fresh start. Some tracks are extremely quiet, romantic, acoustic jazzed up, while others use prog rock as a jumping off point to position themselves close to heavy metal. It's always about contrasts. The goal is not predetermined. Each of the four musicians carries this collective center within themselves, so that the epicenter from which the respective impulse emanates can constantly shift. This happens all by itself, does not have to be constantly manifested by a prescribed concept. The pieces can be so different in form, intensity and reference to tradition, they still direct the focus again and again not only on a certain aspect, but on the band as a whole.
Tonbruket have always been uncategorizable, but on "Forevergreens" they leave even that uncategorizability behind. Instead, they live out contrasts, contrasts between individual pieces, tempos, moods, referents and - yes - clichés. It's the loudest and the quietest record they've made yet. Never before have they approached jazz so closely and at the same time distanced themselves so far from it. The usual image of a rollercoaster ride of intensities, building momentum in fast parts to get through ballads, is inaccurate here. It's a natural and often abrupt change of musical states.
The series of surprises begins with popular Norwegian pop diva Ane Brun, whose backing band Tonbruket has been for some time, introducing the band in the intro. The tour of contrasts continues with the post-rock "Mano Sinistra," continues with feather-light jazz tunes like "Sinkadus," which again features Ane Brun's voice, and "Music For The Sun King." culminates in barrel-chested smashers like "Tarantella" and "Linton," and concludes with "Polka Oblivion," which oscillates between klezmer, folk and tango, with Hederos becoming a vocalist on fiddle, and Per Texas Johanson playing bass clarinet and Martin Holm tenor saxophone.
There's something to be said for calling the music on "Forevergreens" jazz. If you want to call it instrumental rock or folk avant-garde, you certainly wouldn't be wrong either. Most compelling, however, is the sub-genre Johan Lindström has found for his journey to the edges.
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