In Austria, Swedish Bomb – Schwedenbomben – is a very popular sweet but in Southern Sweden it is actually the name of a very explosive, free jazz trio that has nothing to do with sugary music. The Swedish Bomb features alto sax player Ola Paulson, the head of the Konvoj Records and the mastermind of the Konvoj Ensemble (with sax players Evan Parker, Lotte Anker and pianist Sten Sandell), electric six-string bass guitarist Anders Lindsjö, who collaborated before with innovative improvisers as sax titan Mats Gustafsson and drummer Raymond Strid, and Finnish, Sweden-based drummer Anders Uddeskog, who also plays in the Konvoj Ensemble.

The trio describes itself as a sound lab, «a testing ground for sounds and musical attitudes, a space for interaction between various perspectives and experiences». You can assume that in this kind of lab many sonic experiences ended with explosive, cathartic conclusions. Bomb adopts a restless, punkish approach on its debut album, «The Subject» – play as intense as you can, even on the most introspective segments, preferably even faster than light, leave aside any ideas about form, rhythm or melody, as if there is no tomorrow. Paulson is at his best when he fires fast, tortured  blows that pierce the stratosphere, Lindsjö charges the loose interplay with textual pulsating and distorted sounds and Uddeskog colors the commotion with inventive yet massive touches.

The shorter pieces as «The Monochrome», «The Method» and «The Object» capture Bomb intense power at its peak. The punkish, take-no-prisoners approach encapsulates the muscular energy, velocity and intensity of the trio as it is packed in such brief and chaotic pieces. Bomb promises that this kind of approach «is first and foremost a never ending experiment». Hopefully, more of this stuff is about to come soon.

Eyal Hareuveni  

Ola Paulson (as), Anders Lindsjö (b), Anders Uddeskog (dr, perc)