Anders Jormin, Lena Willemark, Karin Nakagawa - Trees Of Light (2015) [Official Digital Download]

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Anders Jormin, Lena Willemark, Karin Nakagawa - Trees Of Light (2015) [Official Digital Download]

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Anders Jormin, Lena Willemark, Karin Nakagawa - Trees Of Light (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time - 56:39 minutes | 535 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet

Bringing together composed music by all three participants—and recorded after two years spent working on the music in rehearsal and in concert—Trees of Light is rife with singable themes, cascading supportive lines and swirling koto sweeps that allow the music to ebb and flow so organically that the improvisation, so fundamental to its raison d'être, oftentimes blurs the line between form and freedom. With the broad-ranged koto able to traverse the entire range covered, in parts, by Jormin's bass and Willemark's fiddle, it often possesses an adherent quality, joining all three instruments into a seamless whole.
But, while there are songs where, indeed, the three players come together as a glorious whole, there is also plenty of space for permutation and combination…and solo excursions too, with koto, first alone, ultimately supporting Willemark's voice before Jormin joins in to complete the imagery. Jormin's remarkable and inimitable extended techniques (both pizzicato and arco)—developed over decades now—are given a cappella moments, too; and Willemark proves herself as compelling and evocative a fiddler as she is a singer—sometimes playing with raw, almost unfettered energy, other times so delicately that it seems as though she is barely breathing on her strings.
As transcultural collaborations go, Trees of Light is an unequivocal success, with Willemark having taught Nakagawa the Swedish polska and Nakagawa, in turn, shedding light on the millennial koto tradition for both Willemark and Jormin. Together, the three make music that's redolent of both traditions and yet reveals something else as well.