Erik Dahl Ensemble – Everyone’s Too Sad For Everything (Svalka Records, 2023)
Composer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Erik Dahl and his ensemble make music in a somber and dark dreamland between avant-garde jazz, Western classical chamber music and progressive rock. Everyone’s Too Sad For Everything is the second album by the group. The evocative music was written during the period of isolation the pandemic forced upon us. As you would expect, numerous emotions were evoked by the lack of concerts and social life.
”I wanted to transform that specific feeling into music. The loneliness, a soaring melancholy, sadness that comes and goes. While starting to write the music, I stumbled on the phrase ’Everyone’s Too Sad For Everything’ in a book. The words are paradoxical, at first it sounds so gloomy. But there is also something else, slightly absurd, almost humoristic. To be sharing your sadness with others is actually kind of hopeful.”
The members of the group are accomplished performers on the Swedish jazz and folk music scene. They enrich the music with their multifaceted personal expressions. The group is based in Gothenburg and led by Erik Dahl, whose compositions balance melodic simplicity with experimental impulses.
Musicians: Anna Cochrane on violin and viola; Andreas Thurfjell on alto and baritone saxophone, clarinet; Anna Malmström on clarinet and bass clarinet; Erik Dahl on piano and electronics; Viktor Reuter on double bass; and William Soovik on drums and percussion.