JAZZ
BY ANDY COWAN
Esbjörn Svensson
★★★★
HOME.S
ACT. CD/DL/LP
Recently unearthed solo album from late EST founder and pianist is a philosophical revelation.
Recorded in his basement, weeks before his sudden passing in 2008, HOME.S is Svensson’s only known solo recording. Renowned for his spine-tingling alchemy with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström in e.s.t., Svensson’s knack for conjuring haunting memorials is strikingly vivid amid the tinkling Bach-like melodies of Alpha and tear-lashed melancholy of Gamma, mini-symphonies of invention that capture its creator at his most philosophical and conversational. Untethered from e.s.t.’s dramatic build-ups, frenetic hooks and rhythmic propulsion, the interweaving patterns and high-wire sleights of hand of Theta and Eta similarly fizz with Monk-like idiosyncrasies, the latter marrying a dissonant bass figure and a stately top line with goose pimple-raising intensity. Less reliant on repetition than before, these mesmerising private meditations prove both unexpectedly sensuous and acutely self-aware.