Thomas Bergsten’s Kosmos
Apollon, 2022
8/10
Listen to Thomas Bergsten’s Kosmos
The highly atypical multi-instrumentalist Thomas Bergsten brings his very spiritual and experimental version of jazz rock across these 4 unconventional tracks.
“Drive Pt1” starts the listen, and it brings blurry brass, cultured percussion and warm guitar to an avant-garde version of jazz, and “Drive Pt2” follows with a hypnotic ambience that flows with a hazy demeanor that uses flute strategically.
“ALBYT” leads the back half, and it’s a very meticulous and fascinating blend of space and tension that showcases exceptional guitar work and frisky drumming, and “Sun” continues this creativity with 18+ minutes of cozy and bare, soaring and cinematic, and even psyche/prog-influences into the curious formula.
Bergsten has experience playing in Gunerius & Verdensveven and The Harvey Steel Show, and he handles Guitar, cigar box harp, percussion, lap-steel and sound manipulation here. He takes help from Tore Ljøkelsøy (drums, percussion, Hardanger fiddle), Arnfinn Langesæter (saxophone, flute, percussion), Jakob Eri Myhre (trumpet, El-piano, effects, percussion), Simen Wie (bass, percussion), Øyvind Heilo (El-piano, percussion) and Bjørn Klakegg (guitar), and it makes for a very exciting venture into free jazz territory.
Travels well with: Datadyr- Woolgathering; Soft Ffog- Soft Ffog