The Crux is the first release by the second edition of Natural Artefacts, a quartet that started in 2018. Original members Susanna Lindeborg plays piano and electronics and Per Anders Nilsson plays electronics together with drummer Anton Jonsson and guitar player Merje Kägu. The recording was made at the Epidemi Studio in Gothenburg with engineer Johannes Lundberg. Mix and mastering was made by Björn Asplind. The album was released in January 2019. Conceptually, in The Crux the group continue to develop, explore and experiment similar paths as their previous albums. That is, blending electronic and acoustic instruments and contemporary musical genres, however with clear roots in jazz and improvised music.
Music from The Crux
The Crux by Per Anders Nilsson
Open Path by Susanna Lindeborg
Reviews
Jazz Journal July 2019
I wonder how Joe Zawinul would have got on with fellow-Austrian Arnold Schönberg? Imagine a world where improvisational flair, funky jazz figures and a world-ranging poetic sensibility sit well with the strictures of serialism or a literate awareness of the European classical tradition. Add to that the possibilities inherent in a post-musique concrète, post-Cage, post-minimalism sensibility and you have some idea of the sui generis poetics of this quite extraordinary quartet. As I’ve observed before in JJ, Swedish pianist and electronics manipulator Susanna Lindeborg and her various cohorts have been making some of the mos refreshing music of the past decade or so: music as tender and lyrical (hear the beginning of Short Step) as it is abstract and indeterminate (the development o Step) – as deeply satisfying, overall, as it is provocative and challenging. The Crux is the most completely wrought album I’ve heard to date from Lindeborg and Nilsson: its shape-shifting acoustic/electronic field has a mesmerising effect, with Kagu’s clipped and singing guitar and Jonsson’s pithy percussion completely wired to the pursuit of the unclassifiable which seems th order of the day here. There are both “little sounds” redolent of treasured folk tropes and “big sounds” which conjure post-apocalyptic thoughts of a piece of Weather Report vinyl, eaten away by acid rain; spaced-out grooves (Open Path, Red Room and Webern’s Mode) an suspended cross-rhythms and indeterminate textures (Whereabouts). A superb, really striking recording: the more you listen – and listen hard – the more it gives you. (Micael Tucker).
Orkester Journalen January 2019
Här finns två lägen som betecknar ytterkanterna på musikplanen. Å ena sidan den lugna balladliknande litet nonchalant jazziga men ändå drömmande sorten. Den låter som en blandning av sorg och vila. We Have Sung for You är en sådan låt som vaggar in mig i rörlig avspänning. Och den andra sidan är en jazzrockig känsla som är litet bråttom, nonchalant svängig och som visar hur väl alla behärskar mediet. Inget är tråkigt fast det låter så bekant. Dessemellan rör sig musikerna i ett slags gnistrande medium tempo. Pianot skimrar i kapp med cymbalerna och alla gör allt för att skapa spänningar utan att ta i för mycket. Det är mycket välgjort och njutbart. Annars varierar musikerna olika format för att skapa skilda stämningar. Trots allt är detta inte en abstrakt musik à la fri impro. Konkreta krokar i jazzens berättarlust ligger ständigt ute. Ett gitarrsolo är då som en promenad eller en orientering i okända trakter. Pianot är som en utforskning av gamla kända lokaler för att hitta något nytt, vilket oftast sker. Och här läggs också en hel del effektiv elektronik till. Ibland tätnar det ordentligt och varje musiker får spänna sig till max. Särskilt intressant tycker jag det är att höra Linderborg svänga varsamt för att plötslig landa i total turbulens. Starkt. Det säger också en del om pulsen på skivan. Fritt överraskande och samtidigt riktigt tung förankring i 60- och 70-talets jazz. Även i de lugnaste tempi kan gruppen svänga så att en tappar andan för en sekund. (Thomas Millroth)
There are two modes that denote the outer edges of the music plane. On the one hand, the calm ballad-like slightly nonchalantly jazzy but still dreamy kind. It sounds like a mixture of sadness and rest. We Have Sung for You is one such song that lulls me into moving relaxation. And the other side is a jazz-rock feel that is a little rushed, nonchalantly swingy and shows how well everyone has mastered the medium. Nothing is boring even if it sounds so familiar. In between, the musicians move in a kind of sparkling medium tempo. The piano shimmers in competition with the cymbals and everyone does their best to create tension without overdoing it. It is very well done and enjoyable. Otherwise, the musicians vary different formats to create different moods. After all, this is not abstract music à la free improvisation. Concrete hooks in jazz’s desire to tell stories are constantly out there. A guitar solo is then like a walk or an orientation in unknown regions. The piano is like an exploration of old familiar premises to find something new, which usually happens. And a lot of efficient electronics are also added here. Sometimes it gets really tight and each musician has to strain to the max. I think it’s particularly interesting to hear Linderborg swing carefully only to suddenly land in total turbulence. Strong. It also says something about the pulse of the disc. Freely surprising and at the same time really heavy anchoring in the jazz of the 60s and 70s. Even in the calmest tempi, the group can swing so that you lose your breath for a second.