The Swedish, Gothenburg-based musical collective Thymeshift began in 2010 as a trio of sax player Thomas Backman, drummer Johan Björklund and guitarist Thomas Gunillasson, but over the years invited guests – Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson and Danish Danish keyboardist and instrument innovator Katrine Amsler, to its recordings. «Music Outside Boxes» presents the next evolutionary phase of Thymeshift into a mini-big band. Thymeshift United is now an octet, with Gunillasson joining for only three pieces and Amsler for one.
«Music Outside Boxes» also suggests Thymeshift as a democratic collective, and each of the eight pieces was penned by a different musician. Still, Thymeshift in all its incarnations has been treading the borderlands between modern jazz, thorny rock and electronica, and «Music Outside Boxes» offers a more varied, nuanced and layered version of the vision of this musical collective, where the sum becomes larger than its parts. Thymeshift United recorded the album after a tour in Sweden, live at the Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg in October 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, but before the restrictions fully kicked in.
Each piece of «Music Outside Boxes» has a distinct feel and vibe, and all together sketches the dynamic spectrum of the Thymeshift United. Bassist Anne Marte Eggen’s «United» highlights the tight yet breezy groove of the extended Thymeshift. Keyboards player John Lönnmyr’s «Kamara» deepens this leisured vein and ornaments it with vintage, analog synth sounds. Backman’s «Tygmannen» opts for another course, a lyrical one that stresses the leading, playful role of the sax choir of himself, Lisen Rylander Löve and Malin Wättring. Wättring’s «Indian Beats» offers an intoxicating, seductive groove, with a beautiful arrangement of the sax section and the guitars of Mats Eriksson and Anders Augustsson. Björklund’s «Minst» takes Thymeshift United into a suggestive cinematic voyage. Gunillasson’s «Moonday» offers a sensual and passionate ballad. Augustsson’s «Spanish Funk» enjoys the layered rhythmic basis of the extended Thymeshift. Rylander Löve’s last piece «Den Andra» is the longest one, and tells a detailed, dramatic story, where the sax section and the soaring guitar solo of Gunillasson express the multifaceted narrative.
Eyal Hareuveni
Johan Björklund (dr, perc), Mats Eriksson (g), Anders Augustsson (g), Anne Marte Eggen (el.b), Lisen Rylander Löve (s), Malin Wättring (s), Thomas Backman (s), John Lönnmyr (keys), Thomas Gunillasson (g), Katrine Amsler (samp)
