It is always a little heartbreaking to hear that music projects of a certain depth, vision and exceptional creativity arrive to an end.
This is exactly the case of the Swedish Improvisational Jazz quintet called Farvel, now announcing officially that their brand new album, the fourth of their remarkable career and called Farväl, it is their very own swan song.
Farvel is a musical project that started over ten years ago, a very important one for the whole Scandinavian Jazz scene, in view of their unique blend of Cool and Improvisational Jazz that has inspired, through the last decade, many fellow Jazz musicians from Northern Europe.
The band's new album, Farväl (Farewell, in English) brings back the splendor of the band's early years, especially those related to albums like "Isabel Sörling Farvel" and "Rök", the latter being a true modern Jazz gem.
The Swedish quintet, formed by Isabel Sörling on vocals, Alfred Lorinius on double bass, Carl-Johan Groth on drums, Otis Sandsjö on sax tenor and Kim Aksnes on trumpet most certainly up their game, on their very last body of work, through an album that displays cleverly both the individual remarkable musicianship of every band member and the fabulous interplay among all of them, resulting in an inspired, atmospheric, sometimes erratic but always perfectly executed sonic pastiche of what the band sees as their own vision of Contemporary Jazz.
There are many highlights, shining through the whole of Farvel's new record, all crammed with some musical individualities of undisputable quality; from their single called Collapse, full of vocal and rhythmic pathos to a splendid example of modern Urban Jazz like Checkpoint Haden, the Swedish quintet unleash some very interesting ideas on how to build harmonies based on single layers of trumpet, drums or double bass, for example, with Sörling's wonderful high-pitched vocals sewing altogether the different improvisational lines brought by each individual musician, during the build-up of every tune.
If Farvel wished to end their musical joint-venture on a high, they couldn't ask for a better record than Farväl, a fascinating journey into the visionary, sublime sonic world of Farvel.
Farväl is out now and it is available through the band's Bandcamp page
