In so-called jazz circles it doesn't happen too often that a band with an unchanged line-up releases six albums over a period of ten years. The Swedish quartet Tonbruket is an exception. On his new album "Masters Of Fog" it's once again about Start. A sound like an icy breeze blowing from the North Polar Circle over to us. An initially straight, then syncopating drum set is added, grounded by a gravitational bass. At the end the star sparkle of a Steel Guitar pedal covers the ambience. Welcome to the world of Tonbruket.
The unique mixture of moments of progressive rock, jazzy sound, the direct transfer of natural impressions into sound as well as trace elements of folk music of different origins makes every Tonbruket album recognizable as such after only a few bars. And yet guitarist Johan Lindström, bassist Dan Berglund, pianist/violinist Martin Hederos and drummer Andreas Werliin manage to combine these ingredients into a new menu on every album. So is Masters Of Fog. "All four of us find it boring to repeat a formula once it has been found," says Johan Lindström. "Some bands are all about that repetition. They're so good, they can stick to an idea for the rest of their lives. It's not an option for us. We always put our spade on the same spots, but we try to dig a little deeper every time."
Tonbruket's music was rich in cinematographic aspects from the very beginning - the sound developed into images that quickly began to take on a life of their own. But the new record sounds like a film noir itself, in which environments and characters are deliberately evoked. However, this effect results less from the concept of the record than from the way the band works. "We recorded the music in different sessions," recapitulates the guitarist. "During the first session we neither played melodies nor picked up our instruments at all. We mainly dealt with certain moods and figures. Nothing was given, but we worked out a collective feeling for certain images and improvised on the theme for more than an hour. We just sat around a table with microphones and processed various objects or sang. This session gave us a lot of material. Unfortunately we couldn't use all of it for the album, but for the band this step was important."
