THEY BREEZED IN with debut album By in 2017 and airlifted purple whales over Scandinavian peaks with 2019’s Somm En Faldskærm. Now, Danish electric guitar, piano/harmonium and double bass trio Hvalfugl release their third album, Øjeblikke Vi Husker (Moments We Remember) – another temperate airstream of blithe melody and ‘feel good’, this time occasionally augmented by featured artists.
The musical world of Jeppe Lavsen, Jonathan Fjord Bredholt and Anders Juel Bomholt oscillates between Nordic jazz, European folk/country, ambient reverie and even a touch of hymnal repose. And whilst the clear accessibility of their carefully arranged and precisely performed original numbers could initially be mistaken as ‘lightweight’, beneath is a beautiful depth of emotion and honesty which reveals itself – and that overall combination is both attractive and heartwarming. Lavsen’s pellucid guitar lines are a prominent melodic feature; yet the trio is completely intertwined and balanced, each dependent on the other for this open, congenial flow. Maybe that’s the keystone of their success.
Averaging three to four minutes, none of these thirteen frequently visual impressions outstays its welcome, but leads naturally onto the next. So the gently falling flakes of grey-skied Snefald Over Fjorden (Snowfall Over the Fjord), with Sørensen’s soft trumpet perhaps wistfully recalling childhood days, ease to reveal the coruscating sunlight of Polardrømme’s (Polar Dreams’) shimmering piano and guitar over Bomholt’s tuneful bass riff. Folksong, as an influence, never feels far away – Funklende Blikke (Sparkling Glances) dances brightly to its double cello elegance; and piano-led Sommereufori (Summer Euphoria) does have that tingle of a halcyon tune heard way back when.
The subtle waves of Bredholt’s harmonium in Dugvåde Asfaltstriber (Dew-wet Asphalt Stripes) provide a tranquil, homely ground to support Lavsen’s echo-effected guitar, while drums and trumpet bring a rare, rhythmic busyness to Hvalfugl in Regnen Falder Som Sne (The Rain Falls Like Snow). Rather special is the clear, yearning cello of Vandrer Mig Til Ro (Wandering To My Rest) – imaginable as extended, emotive soundtrack material, certainly aligned to the album‘s theme of ‘memory’; and lyric-suggested Der Hvor Alting Ender (Where Everything Ends) epitomises the band’s lambent glow.
Hvalfugl’s output is not oblique, innovative or challenging – but neither should it be labelled or heard as ‘background music’. Expanding the instrumental weave only enhances their finespun landscapes, and this album’s easy-going 45 minutes call me back to bask in the positivity of their autumn-mellow riches.
Released on 4 September 2020 and available as CD, digital download and limited-edition vinyl from Bandcamp.
YouTube audio track: Dugvåde Asfaltstriber
Jeppe Lavsen guitar
Jonathan Fjord Bredholt piano, harmonium
Anders Juel Bomholt double bass
with featured artists
Jakob Sørensen trumpet
Lasse Jacobsen drums
Gabriella de Carvalho e Silva Fuglsig cello
Rebecca de Carvalho e Silva Fuglsig cello
(2020)
ADRIAN PALLANT 