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Thymeshift — Layers of In Between
(Red Round Records no #, 2024, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-09-16

Layers of In Between Cover art

So way back around 2010, Swedish ensemble Thymeshift began as the trio of drummer Johan Björklund (who would later provide keyboards, zither, and bass as well), guitarist Thomas Gunillasson, and Thomas Backman on saxophone and clarinet. By the time of the band’s first release, Beyond Horizons (2015), Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson had joined the group. Fast forward a few years to March of 2021 and the group’s second release, Dark Lights; Jensson had left, but was replaced by Katrine Amsler on keyboards, laptop and electronics. By the end of that year, Thymeshift had suddenly expanded to a nine-piece big band, ‘Thymeshift United,’ with the core three plus Amsler, plus guitarists Mats Eriksson and Anders Augustsson, electric bassist Anne Marte Eggen, keyboardist John Lönnmyr, and saxophonists Lisen Rylander Löve and Malin Wättring to make a three-piece horn section. The big band recorded the album Music Outside Boxes on the last date of their tour, then regrouped as a quartet again, the original three plus Lönnmyr on keyboards. Lönnmyr’s 2023 album Aftonland left quite an impression on me, so when I heard he was working with Thymeshift, I knew I needed to hear the new album, Layers of In Between. This album is completely instrumental, a wonderful blend of jazz, rock, and some electronics, partly composed, partly improvised. The title refers to the “Layers,” six shorter vignettes that separate some of the longer cuts on the album. Some of the longer cuts, like “Oskar Blues,” have more of a rock feel driving them, not unlike some works of the Canterbury bands like Ian Carr’s Nucleus, while others, like the keyboard-heavy “Becka,” tend to remind of some of Pekka Pohjola’s soundtrack work. “Hunter’s Theme” is, at its core, straight-up rock, but the array of saxes lends it a beautiful jazz feel while sax and keys trade solos like a conversation. Presumably, with no bassist in the band, Lönnmyr is handling some of that on his keyboards. The electronics come into play on several of the “Layers” tracks, but certainly also on the mellow jazzy romp “Hour of the Wolf.” Perhaps my favorites among the longer pieces are the introspective “Ave Maris Stella” and the Oregon-ish “Synecdoche,” two pieces that highlight the group’s classical and jazzier sides, respectively. All taken, Layers of In Between offers plenty of brilliant and playful cross-genre work.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): John Lönnmyr , Thymeshift

More info
http://johanbjrklund.bandcamp.com/album/layers-of-in-between

 

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