Good morning from an unseasonably sunny South London.
It seems that every time I post on these pages I’m apologising for/bemoaning the lack of activity on my side. Rather than revisit those over-trodden paths I’ve been trying to do something about it and find a sustainable way forward for my writing (‘my writing’ - check out Ernest Hemingway over here!).
Lots of ideas have come and gone, but last week I realised that there was an obvious way forward - something that came to me, ironically, by looking back. I’d pulled out a couple of copies of each of my zines this week, to gift to a label I was meeting with. Watching them leaf through it as we sat in an East London cafe, I explained the origins of the project: how I had amassed a sizeable record collection that I rarely engaged with, and how a New Year’s resolution at the end of 2020 led to me listening to, and consequently writing about, an album every day for a year.
On the train home it occurred to me that I’d reached a similar place now as I’d been in back in the depths of lockdown: neglecting my musical passion as life got in the way. As 2025 comes to a close there’s a bit more life to live than there was in the homebound days of 2021 - so whilst a daily listen and write might be a bit ambitious, maybe a weekly version was within my grasp….
This idea floated around my sub-conscious for a few days until last Monday, walking back across the park after a workout. It was a misty morning (see pic above) and rather than listen to a podcast as I ordinarily would, I decided to listen to some music. A vinyl copy of he new Sven Wunder album had landed over the weekend, and was at the top of my collection in the Bandcamp app - I started listening in my headphones and continued on the stereo once I’d got home and made myself a cup of tea. As the final strains of ‘Liquid Mountains’ faded, I had formed a plan: listen to a new record each Monday morning and write about it before the work week starts in earnest. All being well the email will land in your inbox in time for you to make it part of your own Monday ritual.
So, that’s the plan: one record, every Monday, with some news from me and my world if I have anything exciting going on. Let’s get into it…
Sven Wunder - Daybreak
It’s likely that the title of Sven Wunder’s fifth and latest album had lodged itself into my mind at some point over the past few weeks, but nonetheless I had that moment of marvelling at the synchronicity of it all when I realised that I’d decided to listen to a record called Daybreak as I set off across the park on a hazy Monday morning. Reading the liner notes, (and track titles) it becomes clear that the Swedish composer and producer had a less pastoral and more nautical theme in mind, with the album loosely marking the transition of the day at sea, from early morning calm to the deeper waters of night - a literal and metaphorical ebb and flow of soft swells and patterned percussion. There are nods to the expansive strings of Henry Mancini’s ‘Lujon’ (an all time favourite of mine) and also the rhythmic qualities of ethio-jazz master Mulatu, but, to extend the aquatic metaphor, these are gentle undulations rather than swiftly changing stormy skies.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the state of jazz in the wake of the the genre’s UK-led explosion of the last decade. On the one hand there is the free jazz expression that labels like International Anthem embody (although I think I personally prefer their more contemplative releases from Jeff Parker and others). Heading back across the Atlantic to the bands that broke out of that London scene, it’s interesting to me that many of them are operating in the far reaches of the genre; be it Kokoroko embracing lovers rock and soul, Ezra Collective’s Afrobeat power or Emma Jean-Thackray’s move into confessional grunge-rock. Sven Wunder sits in a third camp, that is perhaps more traditional, though no less vital; textured, romantic and rhythmically complex, albeit in an understated way.
Taking a step back, it’s evidence of a scene in good health, with space for different branches from the same roots. In the same way that we’re happy for rock to be expressed in all kinds of diverse ways, from post to math to hard and the rest, it’s fitting that the new era of jazz musicians are free to find their own path within the wider genre. Daybreak came out last month on the artist’s own Piano Piano imprint - go grab a copy over on Bandcamp.
OK! That’s it - the first instalment of my newly refreshed Monday Long Player newsletter. See you next week for more.
Till then….
Aly
It makes me happy that The Long Player is back. I leaf through the compiled magazine from last time quite often, and it has lead to some of my favorite vinyl purchases. I’m looking forward to listening to Daybreak.
Fab album... I had it on only yesterday!