The Swedish, Gothenburg-based trio of guitarist and electronics player Nils Wohlrabe, hyper-pianist Karin Johansson, and double bass player Hasse Westling brings musicians from different backgrounds. Wohlrabe, who initiated this trio, is known from the local band The Leather Nun and comes from punk, noise, and industrial music. Johansson is a composer and free improviser whose work encompasses free jazz, free improvisation, and contemporary music. Westling is a jazz bassist who also plays free improvised music, and he has played in Johansson’s ORD album (Hemligheter På Vägen, Havtrorn, 2022).

This trio’s debut album, Sonic Waves, experiments with five free improvised, drone-like, rich and vibrant textures that evoke mysterious, cinematic images of real, stubborn movement of ocean waves. Wohlrabe’s electric guitar is enhanced with electronic processing, Johansson plays with a prepared piano, and inside the piano, creating resonant ripples of its strings, and sometimes flirting with concise, innocent melodies, while Westling anchors the sonic streams with earthy, deep-toned double bass lines. Each piece suggests a distinct atmosphere – literally, as well as its own timbre and pulse.

But the real magic of Sonic Waves lies in its cumulative effect. You feel as if you are drawn into a highly immersive, dream-like, and almost psychedelic sonic journey. Inspiring and unpredictable Sonic Waves – literally – embrace you, letting you flow with the infinite pulse of the eternal now, process and cleanse you from disturbing fears and nightmares of the passing night.

Eyal Hareuveni

Nils Wohlrabe (guitar, electronics), Karin Johansson (piano, prepared piano, toy piano), Hasse Westling (double bass)