The Trondheim-based Järmyr Trio is supposedly a classic jazz piano trio, led by Swedish drummer and composer Tomas Järmyr (of YODOK trio, and formerly of Motorpsycho and Zu), fellow Swedish pianist Oscar Grönberg (of Friends & Neighbors, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr, and It Was Her Idea), and double bass player Nicolas Leirtrø (of I Like to Sleep and Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie). But as Järmyr told in an interview to the Fifteen Questions blog: «When and if I create something, it comes as a reaction to something. Or simply because I need to let shit out. Usually the latter».

This trio hosted, in its monthly live performances, local sax hero Eirik Hegadal and Swedish titan Mats Gustafssson. The 54-minute Playbox is the debut album of this trio, and its title piece is comprised of a few compositional ideas and «lots» of free improvised parts, recorded at Brygga Studio in Trondheim in May 2025, and mixed, mastered, produced, and designed by Järmyr to be experienced through the physical format cassette tape.

Playbox sounds like a live, ecstatic, and free-associative jam session. The trio begins this piece by exploring a hypnotic, The Necks-like texture, but then settles on a free-associative, intense, and muscular improvisation, visits vintage, prog-rock meets fusion territories, explores infectious, propulsive themes, with powerful rhythmic games, wild timbral excursions, playful dances, touching, fragile melodies, and sparse, minimalist interplay. Throughout this long journey, the trio never loses its focus and its egalitarian and exploratory essence.

Eyal Hareuveni

Oscar Grönberg (piano, synthesizer), Nicolas Leirtrø (double bass), Tomas Järmyr (drums)