Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is nothing better than being lost. Whether it is in thought, the moment, in Time or perhaps in the physical world of an abundant forest, being lost can be quite liberating. Once the panic subsides, once the feeling of dread of the unknown passes by, the taste of the forest can come alive and the chance to revel in an adventure can become apparent. After all, the only ones who ever truly lost are those that don’t want to be found.

That feeling of being disoriented and off course is lessened when you have a set of guides to at least ease the terrain and in Jonas Knutsson and Johan Norberg there is arguably no one better to alleviate the path laid out before the listener into a genre of music that only sets out to remind exactly we have partially lost in the U.K.

The forest is deep, abundant and vibrant, it is a place of tranquillity and in which the natural is King, humanity can only ever be its true servant, it may believe itself to master of all it surveys but like a record under a powerful microscope, the surface is more detailed than could ever be imagined.

In the album Norrland, now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the pair of guides take the listener on a journey through instrumental tales that only enhance the serenity of its surroundings. In tracks such as the opener Bygdsiljum, the beauty of its followers Ansia, Taget, Kantelito and Bielite, the seconds tick away slowly as if the tick has forgotten its place in life, the tranquillity on offer through each blazing saxophone, and accompanying pluck of the guitar captures something that offers an escape, not from the forest, but from the shells of the lives that we have surrounded ourselves with.

Being lost is not an option, there is always a way out if searched for properly but when dreaming of Norrland, that way out can be put off indefinitely.

A stunning album of tranquil musing, a collector’s piece!

Ian D. Hall