As well as being a bandleader in his own right, bassist Ander Jormin anchors the long-running Bobo Stenson Trio. Singer, songwriter and violinist Lena Willamark has joined her fellow Swede on numerous occasions, co-leading a quartet with koto player Karin Nakagawa and Jormin’s Stenson Trio rhythm partner, drummer Jon Fält. While it’s only vaguely accurate, Pasado en claro comes off as a Swedish Pentangle, led by Willamark’s chamber folk songwriting and Jormin’s inherently jazzy stylings. Meant to be plucked more than strummed, Nakagawa’s instrument leaves plenty of air in the arrangements, its lack of sustain providing a framework over which the rest of the instrumentalists can layer their parts. Willamark keeps her violin presence surprisingly understated, preferring to let her singing do the communication, whether it’s on one of her originals or the poetry providing the Jormin pieces with their librettos. Jormin himself contributes busy, woody bass lines that drive the tracks harder than Fält’s percussion. Check the luminous “Glowworm” for a perfect example of the headliners’ chemistry, with Nakagawa and Fält playing gentle support. Pasado en claro is an unusual release, at least to non-European ears, and that alone makes it worth hearing.
