Sol Sol release Almost All Things Considered on LP/CD/DL on Sail Cabin Records on the 10th of May.
The tracks are written by saxophonist Elin Forkelid (Fire! Orchestra, Vilhelm Bromander’s Unfolding Orchestra, Anna Högberg Attack…) and David Stackenäs (Labfield, Ballrogg…) with influences from Carla Bley and Joni Mitchell to Ornette Coleman and Jimi Hendrix. Making up the quartet are drummer Anna Lund (Frida Hyvönen, Ane Brun…) and bassist Mauritz Agnas (Agnas Bros). 2022’s What Year Is It?, nailed the pandemic ennui with its title and surprised many with it’s, at times, gentle lyricism, this follow up is a case of more is more; more free jazz, more distorted guitars, more baritone sax.
*** BIOs ***
ELIN FORKELID
Born in 1984 in southern Sweden, Elin (maiden name Larsson) moved to Stockholm at the age of 20 to pursue saxophone and jazz studies at the Royal College of Music. For the last 15 years, she has been a prominent voice on the Swedish jazz and impro scene. Starting off with her first own band Elin Larsson Group, Elin gained a wide recognition with the debut album Live And Alive (Playing With Music/ Border 2009). In 2010 she was awarded Newcomer of the year by the Swedish Jazz Radio.
The debut was followed by albums Let You In (Playing With Music/Border 2011) and Growing Up (Playing With Music/Border 2013). In 2013 Elin received another prestigious award, The Lars Gullin Prize, in recognition of her work for the development of Swedish Jazz. In 2013, Elin started working with the praised Anna Högberg Attack, a six piece band that has since then released two much acclaimed albums and toured Europe frequently. Around this time she also performed a lot with Mats Gustafsson’s FIRE! Orchestra and found herself being more and more drawn towards free music.
Today, Elin works primarily with her own band Elin Forkelid Plays For Trane, a quintet that plays willful interpretations of jazz giant John Coltrane’s work, along with quartet SOL SOL, which she leads and composes for together with guitar player David Stackenäs. Elin has gained praise for her composing skills. She enjoys composing for various different line ups, and focuses on the individualities of the musicians she’s composing for at the moment. Today, Elin finds herself standing somewhere in between jazz, free jazz and free impro. Her curiosity and love for the art of improvisation keeps bringing her to new places and faces.
Selected albums :
– Live And Alive (Playing With Music 2009) – Exit //FIRE! Orchestra (Rune Grammofon 2013) – Anna Högberg Attack (Omlott 2016) – Unaccustomed Soil //SOL SOL (Signal And Sound 2019) – OYA Sextet (Signal And Sound 2019) – Elin Forkelid Plays For Trane (Sail Cabin Records 2020) – Lena //Anna Högberg Attack (Omlott 2020) – Can’t Hide //Forkelid-Carlsson-Hielm (Frim Records 2021) – What Year Is It? //SOL SOL (Sail Cabin Records 2022) – Vilhelm Bromander’s Unfolding Orchestra (Thanatosis 2023) – Almost All Things Considered //SOL SOL (Sail Cabin Records 2024)
DAVID STACKENÄS
David Stackenäs was born in 1974 in Stockholm, Sweden. After finishing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm he has grown to become one of the mainstays of improvised and creative music in Sweden. Stackenäs works in the field of contemporary jazz and free improvised music. Over the years he has developed a unique way of playing guitar – both prepared with different materials as well as conventional technique and a growing armada of pedals. With a wide range of sounds and techniques he creates music with great imagination and poetry. As a soloist he mainly focuses on acoustic guitars, using a lot of the organic sound- possibilities and timbres the instrument has to offer.
Has toured as soloist and with many different groups in Europe, the US, Japan and the Middle East. In 2000 David released critics ́ acclaimed cd the guitar on swedish label Häpna and has since then released bow on Kning-Disk (2006), Separator on Found You Recordings (2009) and BRICKS on Clean Feed (2017). Also plays with LabField (w/ Ingar Zach), Kim Myhr You|Me, Ballrogg, CIRCADIA, Lina Nyberg Band, Emil Strandberg trio, Tatsuya Nakatani/David Stackenäs DUO and Holm/Stackenäs DUO and has participated as musician and made music for many different theatre- and dancepieces. Since 2000 he has participated on 40 albums.
Through the years he has played with, among many others: Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Lina Nyberg, Sofia Jernberg, Rhodri Davies, Paul Lovens, Axel Dörner, Sten Sandell, Thurston Moore, Mazen Kerbaj, Christine Abdelnour, Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love, Cecilia Persson, Jim O’’Rourke, Tatsuya Nakatani.
“…Stackenäs, whose acoustic guitar solo…was a personal highlight of FOTC 2004. Sounding a bit like a detuned John Russell, Stackenäs evokes the strange lute and harp music of Ethiopia, Kenya or Mauritania, sustaining pace and inspiration throughout…”
JMVS – Paris Transatlantic
“The large number of expressions he creates have in common that they seem true and well-reflected. Stackenäs is present in his material, either …. kindly with feedback tradition or creating sound and rythm that goes beyond common ground of the guitar…[Stackenäs] combines the playful and the sofisticated.” – Arild R Anderssen, Aftenposten, Norway
“Creating something different — not to mention memorable — with the world’s most popular instrument, the guitar, often seems as unlikely as winning the national lottery. Yet young Swedish guitarist David Stackenäs has done so on this short, cunningly enigmatic disc.”
Ken Waxman, Jazz Weekly on the solo-album “the guitar”
SOL SOL – Almost All Things Considered
formats: LP / CD / DL
label: SAIL CABIN RECORDS
release date: May 10th 2024
cat. no:. SCRCD/LP003
Track list:
A1/ 1. Elena (Forkelid)
A2/ 2. If Not, Marbles (Stackenäs)
A3/ 3. First Days Of Spring (Forkelid)
B1 4. Almost All Things Considered (Stackenäs)
B2 5. Can I Have The Bill, Please? (Forkelid)
B3 6. Hello Again, Paul (Stackenäs)
Line up:
Elin Forkelid, saxophones
David Stackenäs, guitar
Mauritz Agnas, double bass
Anna Lund, drums