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The Chronicle Review Corner

Östlund is a Swedish composer who has recently been living in Romania and before that London, returning to his home country in 2021.

We always like his albums. They’re a bit out there and varied, but it’s more or less the sound elves would make if they had an orchestra playing out in the woods under the moon. This one is no different but there’s a lot of it — two CDs, two and a half hours. We’re fans of the whimsical as much as anyone else but two hours all in one go is a bit much.

We can’t decide what it is: CD1 opens with birdsong, spoken word, flute, harp and dreaminess (the sleeve notes indicate the whole is the story of a butterfly, so expect a fluttery but gentle sound) so a kind of stringy ambience, but there’s also a lot of singing, so a large choral element too, which ranges from the sing-song spoken to full-on dramatic singing. He also combines a feeling of nature with some degree of mystery, hence our feeling of elves in the wood.

There’s too much to go into it all but CD1 opens very gently, the piano and violin later joining the harp. You’re just getting the measure when in comes Bach’s Toccata in D Minor, reimagined by Östlund, so you go from relaxing in the mysterious glade with elves to this incredibly well-known piece of music. He repeats the trick more than once, side two seeing Scarborough Fair brought into play. That’s also a useful element because, despite being Swedish, there is a strong sense of English folk to it all, as well, ranging from a Green Man / morris dance vibe to the more familiar, though Scarborough Fair itself goes back several hundred years.

We guess you’ll either get him or you won’t. We’d hope you do because all his albums bring pleasure and, if you leave his jumping around the genres aside, are easy to listen to — he’s trying to create a mood rather than dropping in a memorable melody, so it’s often textured and impressionistic rather than getting to a point. It’s probably a lot of fun to play, as well.