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"Berghäll’s six compositions have a multifaceted global flavor. Straight forward jazz rhythms and African beats meet Nordic and even oriental ideas."

"The trumpeter and composer embraces new settings and situations as a hired gun yet also frequently seeks to shed his skin in the projects he leads or co-leads."

"Sublime guitar lines that soar like birds of prey in the sky, daring harmonic innovations and immersive metric modulations to make your heart bleed with anguish, ecstasy and joy."

"Drummer Olavi Louhivuori’s new band Superposition is also capable of multiple simultaneous states, from sensitive balladry to free-jazz intensity."

"Dalindèo plays instrumental, but still political jazz on this theme album."

"These are time-honoured melodies that have comforted many generations through wars, financial turmoil and epidemics before – and still have that power."

"Constantly looking for the sweet spot where a rough sketch turns into something concrete, Mäkynen is all about moods and the subtle shifts in between them."

"Here machines are sparring partners, in effect additional band members that react to the organic instruments and parry back with their own input, creating a real dialogue."

“Nature exposes the artifice of art, the craftedness of it, the smallness and egotism of it before the vastness of creation. To invoke nature is to admit the wild, the unplanned, into art,” writes composer Matthew Whittall. This column is part of the series, where composers and other music makers write about their music.