Tread upon this hidden path,
enter woods so wild.
Do not fear some tough guys’ wrath,
this band’s so good and mild!

Gently they will take your hand and
guide you to get lost;
find yourself in wonderland,
this world, just slightly tossed!

Skogen makes a music where impressions and experiences, methods and materials from seemingly different musical practices make up a new, strong alloy.
The specific dynamic which arises within the interface where composition and improvisation mingle and individual and collective processes are negotiated, produces a coherent music where the multiplicity of methods and the histories of different source materials are transcended.
The musical experiences of the members cover a wide range, from Swedish folk music to contemporary classical, with the main focus on improvised and experimental music.
The members are also active performing with groups like Mats Gustafsson’s Swedish Azz, Gul 3, Chip Shop Music and Sheriff, and collaborate with musicians such as Nikos Veliotis, Axel Dörner, Tetuzi Akiyama and Toshimaru Nakamura.

Erik Carlsson: drums and selected percussion
Magnus Granberg: piano, compositions
Henrik Olsson: bowls, cymbals, glasses, microphones and loudspeakers
Leo Svensson: cello
Petter Wästberg: objects, microphones, mixing console, loudspeakers

Listen

Skogen – Skogen (excerpt 1)

Skogen – Skogen (excerpt 2)

Press quotes

”The Skogen album is a good case in point – featuring one forty-minute composition by Granberg, played in understated manner by a quintet, it reminds this listener of several things, from Gastr Del Sol´s quiter moments, to some of Christian Wolff´s pieces, and even a touch of Morton Feldman (in the piano, at least). Granberg´s mostly interested in short sounds, which means that his piano, Erik Carlsson´s percussion and Leo Svensson´s cello drop tiny cells and phrases of asynchronous melody into deep wells of silence, as Olsson´s bowls and percussion slowly patter away, and he and Petter Wästberg let high, and ringing tones sing out as though they´re strung across the piano´s strings. It´s beautiful, heavy on the restraint, and quite gorgeous in it´s becalmed yet austere way.”

Jon Dale, Signal to Noise

“For obvious reasons improvised music through its many vintages has always been able to spark into life micro-communities of musicians in seemingly far-flung places. Small groups of musicians playing together in Korea, Australia, and Tokyo to name just a few places have developed their own individual styles, more the cumulative result of the interests of a few key individuals than any over-riding outside influence. These three fine CDr releases on the new Bombax bombax label from Sweden bring my attention to what seems like another example of this very welcome trend.
Skogen are the quintet of Erik Carlsson, (drums and percussion) Magnus Granberg, (piano) Henrik Olsson, (bowls, cymbals and electronics) Leo Svensson (cello) and Petter Wästberg (objects and electronics). On the occasions that they play together the group mainly perform compositions written by Granberg and that is the case with this release. The loose composition underpinning the music here provides the ensemble with a number of musical choices to be made within a series of short timeframes. These frames range between thirty and ninety seconds in length and add up to forty minutes overall. Within the frames the composition suggests rough descriptions of pitch, rhythm, timbre and other variables, but these are never precisely notated. Therefore improvisation is left as an important element of the music. To paraphrase Granberg the composition is designed to “heighten the processes of interaction and co-operation within the group dynamic.”
Skogen (the name translates into English as forest) make music that isn’t easy to describe in any helpful manner. If the chattery free improv from the late 20th Century sits at one end of the spectrum and EAI at the other, then this music sits squarely in the blurred middle ground between them though its compositional heart complicates this further.
Its inevitable I guess that music containing piano, percussion and electronics should end up being compared to AMM, but there is little similarity here beyond Granberg’s piano playing, which in places resembles John Tilbury in Feldman mode. Extended, droning sounds do not appear, and for the most part the music revolves around slowly intertwining percussive structures with the piano seemingly leading the way, picking up speed here and there in patches where the music gets busier, but always retaining a sense of composed organisation throughout.
The density of the musical material alters between each of the timeframes in the composition, but the order in which the frames are played is chosen beforehand by chance. As it happens the disc seems to begin at its most dense with tumbling, awkward patterns of gamelanesque percussion placed into the spaces between short piano clusters with only gentle background colouring provided here and there by the electronic musicians. Excuse the metaphor, but I am reminded of fish in a tank rising individually and repeatedly to the surface of the water to be fed before falling way again. Fifteen minutes or so later, as presumably a new section of the score is begun, a soft, extremely beautiful period of calm appears, just ripples left on the surface of the water. Spacious combinations of brief piano notes, gentle cello and mainly bowed metal objects later grow into a short passage of high pitched cries before they are cut short and after a few moments repose the music slips away on a shifting pattern of piano and groaning cello.
This release is yet another fine example of how improvisation and composition can be blended together to create music that is at once both conceptually interesting and musically engaging. There is a sense of ordered structure to the music that could only come from a composition, and yet there is no way that this could ever be fully notated. To produce the music Skogen make here the score needs these particular musicians and vice versa.“

Richard Pinnell, Bagatellen

Skogen är Erik Carlsson, Magnus Granberg, Henrik Olsson, Leo Svensson, Petter Wästberg. Albumet består av ett nästan fyrtio minuter långt stycke. Ljudbilden är mycket speciell med två slagverksspelare, piano, cello och elektronik. Den senare blir mer ett eget instrument, en tonfärgning, eftersom de akustiska dominerar med sin avvaktande sorgsenhet. De släpper motvilligt ifrån sig längre linjer och sammansatta ljudblock. Musiken sätts punktvis in. Under långa minuter med mycket pauser uppfattas övergripande melodifragment som svävar över landskapet.

Erik Carlssons och Henrik Olssons slagverk ger en rik klang, där instrumentens materiella egenskaper spelar en viktig roll i färgsättningen. Jag hör trä, klockor, metall. Men knappast rytmik i vanlig mening. Den rörelsen finner jag i fragment hos cellisten Leo Svensson och inte minst i Magnus Granbergs piano. I återkommande andetag verkar pianoklangen, som med tranceartad långsamhet upprepar korta figurer. Klangligt liknar de varandra, tonalt skiftar de. Fragmentet berättar om större former, starka känslor.

Eftersom jag upplever pianospelet som en obruten väv finns en stark formmedvetenhet. Pauserna verkar som om musikens form rörde sig under själva tystnaden. En stark form upplevs hela tiden och binder ihop de korta inpass alla spelarna formulerar sig med. De har valt en begränsning, ett trångt rum att röra sig i. Det gör satsningen större, koncentrationen avgörande. Det duger inte med en massa spilltoner. Här går chansningen, slumpen, svaren, frågorna i dagen. Det är en mäktig upplevelse att följa musikens process, dess avvägningar, där de knappa tonkonstellationerna efter en dryg halvtimme upplevs som ett slags eufori i ett drömtillstånd. Till detta bidrar i högsta grad Magnus Granbergs hypnagoga pianospel. Mellan dröm och vaka.

Efter att ha lyssnat på Skogens försjunkna, fragmentariska, hjärtslagsrörliga musik kommer jag att tänka på en titel till en föreställning av Birgit Åkesson signerad av Erik Lindegren: ”Öga: sömn i dröm.”

Thomas Millroth, Sound of Music