Pasado en Claro

This album is credited to double bass player Anders Jormin, and indeed seven of the 11 compositions are his. Yet it's equally an album of Swedish singer (and violin/viola player) Lena Willemark, best-known for her work with leading Swedish folk group Frifot. She wrote the words and music for the remaining four tracks. These musicians are joined here by fellow Swede, drummer Jon Fält, and Japanese 25-string koto player Karin Nakagawa.

When not by Willemark, the words are by other Scandinavian poets, Chinese and Japanese writers as well as Mexican Octavio Paz and Italian Petrarch in translation. Despite the varied poetic sources, it's really Willemark's voice and the instrumental textures that are at the heart of the music. Many of the songs have substantial instrumental passages, many of great beauty – for instance the koto solo on ‘Ramona Elena’ and some dramatic effects and sinuous melodies on ‘The Woman of the Long Ice’. That said, it's not enough to sustain the interest over what feels like a long 58 minutes.