With Today May Be Tomorrow, RYMDEN move into another kind of space: the unstable territory of time itself.
The title suggests uncertainty, transition, and the strange elasticity of the present moment; today may already contain tomorrow, while yesterday may return in altered form. But there is also a more urgent question within it, one that belongs unmistakably to the world we live in now: will there be a tomorrow?
This sense of movement through states of feeling — arrival, nightfall, dream, return, presence, and farewell — gives the album its quiet conceptual undertow.
As with their previous albums, RYMDEN continue to maintain remarkable degrees of freedom and complexity. Time signatures shift, forms turn unexpected corners, and melodic elements weave through the music in ways that rarely take the obvious dominance they might be afforded by other artists. Yet none of this feels difficult for its own sake. The music moves with the naturalness of a toe-tapper, even when its inner mechanisms are intricate. Melody, rhythm, and texture are not hierarchically arranged so much as mutually entangled, each one underpinning, provoking, and illuminating the others.
What remains most striking is the unity of purpose. Individual composer credits are present — three pieces each from Öström and Wesseltoft, two from Berglund — but the overall signature is unmistakably RYMDEN. Wesseltoft’s piano and keyboards provide harmonic imagination, lyric intelligence, and textural depth; Berglund’s bass often seems to lead from the centre of the music, not merely anchoring but steering, singing, growling, and driving; Öström’s drums, percussion and voices create weather systems of rhythm and colour, from rainfall brushes to explosive force.
Today May Be Tomorrow does not abandon the cosmos, the landscape, or the cinematic breadth of the trio’s earlier work. Instead, it draws those elements inward and onward, into music concerned with time, return and transformation, while allowing the album title’s darker resonance to remain present: the future is not guaranteed, and tomorrow is no longer something that can be taken for granted. RYMDEN remain explorers, but here the expedition is not simply through outer space, nor across valleys and mountains. It is through the charged present moment itself: where yesterday may be revisited, tomorrow may already be arriving, and today may never be only today.
Rymden - Bugge Wesseltoft, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström - have launched their second mission, "Spacesailors"
Live “Free as A Bird” 2021
Live “Odyssey” @ Jarasum Jazz Festival 2019
Their second album “Space Sailors” is the perfect sequel to "Reflections and Odysseys", their highly acclaimed debut that spawned an equally acclaimed series of live performances.
The trio have taken the dynamics, textures, moods, and perfect blend of subtle detailing and big sonic gestures to new levels, and have picked up new elements of 60s psychedelia and punk energy along the way. If you ever wondered what would happen if a Krzysztof Komeda score for a Polanski movie collided with Fugazi, look no further; if you need to know what Chopin writing doom metal might sound like, you might just find the answer you seek. The prog and fusion elements you already know and expect are still here, but with different colours and markings. If "Reflections and Odysseys" was a first expedition into earth orbit, "Spacesailors" goes far beyond. This just might be their "moon landing" album.
Featuring a more diverse sonic palette, with electronic keyboards and various effects coming further into play, there would be a danger of the trio becoming reliant upon the trickery these things afford, but instead they are perfect garnishes to Rymden's musical recipe of core compositions rich in melody, deep exploratory soloing, and musical elaborations and in-the-moment re-imaginings. Some miniatures of just a minute or two long achieve epic grandeur, while longer pieces take us on determined peregrinations with variegated wonders to behold along the way, or extended meditations on a theme. And although each member has their (almost perfectly equal) share of individual composer credits, the overall signature is clearly RYMDEN.
Their name is truly an aptronym, as it means “space”, with their musical arrangements as interstellar maps of the harmonic cosmos. Their playing plots unique navigational paths and orbits around celestial bodies of melody, atmospheric and moody proto-ambient nebulae, the searing heat of exploding supernova riffs, and the occasional asteroid belt of dissonance. Spacesailors, indeed!
About RYMDEN
The award-winning Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft longed to play in a piano trio. As a great proponent of "European jazz as its own art form" (Quote Wesseltoft) he longed on something that comes close to his feelings and approach to musical expression. That's how he came to invite two friends and innovative forces in European jazz: Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund.
With their groups e.s.t. (esbjorn svensson trio) and Bugge's New Conception Of Jazz the three like minded artists created parallel music history, which dates back to the mid-90s. Both world wide touring formations defined a new, fresh sound on an international scale - with great openness for experimentation and radical thinking ahead. The result was an international music movement that became an inspiration of future generations.
With his artist platform (and record label) Jazzland, Wesseltoft was a pioneer and still is an important promoter in the modernization of Scandinavian jazz music.
The e.s.t. group performed as first band ever rock & jazz clubs, concert halls for classical music and of course the largest stages of music festivals worldwide.
The music of the new trio RYMDEN is based on three elements: melancholic & atmospheric songwriting, dramatically charged rhythms and virtuously played jazz of the highest level.
In this new band formation, the influences of modern jazz, Bach, film music and even rock music are clearly audible. Interwoven to a mature, relaxed concert experience.
RYMDEN - Music Made in Scandinavia.
Bugge Wesseltoft - Piano, Keyboards•Dan Berglund - Bass•Magnus Öström - Drums
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