A mystic of the northern forests,
Sinikka Langeland makes music that is ethereal and deeply affecting. She plays the kantele -- a Finnish lap harp of the zither family -- and sings in a quietly commanding tenor that evokes the natural elements of her native Finnskogen, a forested region shared between Norway and Sweden. Norwegian by birth, Finnish by heritage, she somehow finds a way to honor long-held cultural traditions while transcending them through her artistry.
Wind and Sun is her sixth album for the
ECM label and follows 2021's
Wolf Rune, a spare, entirely solo release dedicated to traditional folk hymns, dance pieces, and shamanistic runes. On this album,
Langeland is joined by a quartet of Norwegian jazz notables, all from the
ECM stable, each one a bandleader in his own right.
Trygve Seim (saxophone) has been a regular collaborator for years and
Mathias Eick (trumpet),
Mats Eilertsen (bass), and
Thomas Stronen (drums) are all sympathetic players whose sensibilities are in perfect alignment with
Langeland's own. The other major contributor here is writer and poet
Jon Fosse, whose serene verse makes up
Wind and Sun's lyrical content. The 12 songs included here are at turns pensive, playful, and affectionate with plenty of space to move around. Against the raindrop plucks of the kantele, the musicians hold languid conversations, whipping up small storms and settling back into glacial grooves. The aching standout "When the Heart Is a Moon" soothes like a bittersweet prayer with
Langeland calling through the hills "when the heart is a moon in the night, the rain is there too." The title track exists in two versions: one a bewitching instrumental, the other a mesmerizing paean to nature's indifference. "The Love" is a surprisingly sultry bossa nova, while its neighbor "The Wind" builds a nimble improvised dance out of a Jew's harp rhythm. It's a patient record, each player listening and responding with as much or as little force as necessary to serve the piece. With each of her records,
Langeland has carved out her own special oeuvre where styles seem to dissolve into boundaryless music that just feels natural and present. Like the two elements in its title,
Wind and Sun sounds ephemeral and just a little bit wild. ~ Timothy Monger
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