Label: ACT music
Format: LP 12inch
Barcode: 0614427905352
Catalog number: ACTLP 90535
Releasedate: 21-07-23
Format: LP 12inch
Barcode: 0614427905352
Releasedate: 21-07-23
- 1 LP, 180g, White vinyl, High Res Download Code
There are only a few figures in m usic whose work influences and shapes a genre as a whole. This is undoubtedly true of the Swede Esbjörn Svensson. With his trio e.s.t., the pianist and composer wowed audiences beyond age and genre affiliations. And his influence on jazz as a whole reverberates to this day and already within the second and third generation of musicians worldwide.
HOME.S. is Esbjörn Svensson's only solo album and the sheer existence of such a recording and its com pletely unexpected discovery over a decade after its creation are nothing less than a sensation: Since the early 1990s, Svensson focused almost his entire creative energy and recording activities on his work with e.s.t.. Thus, these new recordings are not only the first, but practically the only ones that show Svensson in a setting other than that of the trio: Intimate, concentrated and completely one with himself. The recordings for HOME.S. were made only a few weeks before Esbjörn Svensson's sudden death on June 14, 2008. Svensson recorded the music in his Swedish home.
For alm ost ten years afterwards, the album rested untouched in his wife Eva's personal archive. In this interview, she tells the story behind the discovery of the album and the music:
How exactly did you find this m usic? After Esbjörn’s passing, I made sure all the contents of his computer were saved to backup hard drives. And then I basically left them untouched for the next ten years. At the point where I eventually felt ready to look into the material, I soon realised that there was something (to check in to) I wanted to look into. I took the hard drive and went to Gothenburg to meet with Åke Linton, the sound engineer who had worked on all e.s.t. albums as well as on their live shows. He was also the one who had helped me to save the material from Esbjörn’s computer in the first place. So he probably already knew that there was something hidden in there. But nobody had listened to it.
We went to his studio. And we pressed the start button. Then there was a total silence and we couldn't speak for the entire time the music (were) was playing. After it finished, at first we were not able to say anything, because we were both so touched and surprised that it was all there, and that it was so beautiful. The tracks seemed to follow one another like pearls on a string. After we (just) had sat there for a while we agreed: This is really good. Musically, but also from a sound perspective. At first Åke wasn't sure if Esbjörn had recorded everything at home and just by himself. So he called different studios in Stockholm that he knew Esbjörn (were) was in contact with and asked them (weather) whether he had been there, recording anything. But no, he hadn't been anywhere. I know he had bought some very nice microphones and in the course of touring had learned from Åke how to use them. So it became clear that this music had to have been played and recorded in the basement of our house.
So there was nobody with him ? He was all alone doing that? He was all alone. In retrospect I have been thinking about it because the few people who know that this exists were asking me if I knew about it. What I did know was that Esbjörn was constantly working, as he always did. He was in the basement, and I could hear him play. But to me, this didn’t raise any questions. Is he doing something? Yes, of course he's doing something. That's what he always did. Rehearsing, practicing, composing. But for me it wasn’t clear that something new was happening. I did know that he was longing to have time to compose and play in different kinds of constellations, but I had no idea that it might be piano solo. Just weeks after making these solo recordings, Esbjörn died. Everything suddenly (got) took on another perspective. There was no way for me to focus on music. All I could do at that time was to make sure all the material he was working on was kept safe.
When did you hear the m usic for the first tim e? I think it was in 2017 or 18, maybe. This was really the first time? Yes, the first time. After almost ten years.
And you kept everything safe and untouched until then? Technically, yes… Well, I don’t know about safety, because it was in the cupboard. *laughs* But safe enough to be released now anyway. Life changed so dramatically after Esbjörn’s passing. For me and for us, it was not just Esbjörn, the musician, it was my husband and the children's father who was gone. That was what we had to deal with and find a way to live without.
HOME.S. is Esbjörn Svensson's only solo album and the sheer existence of such a recording and its com pletely unexpected discovery over a decade after its creation are nothing less than a sensation: Since the early 1990s, Svensson focused almost his entire creative energy and recording activities on his work with e.s.t.. Thus, these new recordings are not only the first, but practically the only ones that show Svensson in a setting other than that of the trio: Intimate, concentrated and completely one with himself. The recordings for HOME.S. were made only a few weeks before Esbjörn Svensson's sudden death on June 14, 2008. Svensson recorded the music in his Swedish home.
For alm ost ten years afterwards, the album rested untouched in his wife Eva's personal archive. In this interview, she tells the story behind the discovery of the album and the music:
How exactly did you find this m usic? After Esbjörn’s passing, I made sure all the contents of his computer were saved to backup hard drives. And then I basically left them untouched for the next ten years. At the point where I eventually felt ready to look into the material, I soon realised that there was something (to check in to) I wanted to look into. I took the hard drive and went to Gothenburg to meet with Åke Linton, the sound engineer who had worked on all e.s.t. albums as well as on their live shows. He was also the one who had helped me to save the material from Esbjörn’s computer in the first place. So he probably already knew that there was something hidden in there. But nobody had listened to it.
We went to his studio. And we pressed the start button. Then there was a total silence and we couldn't speak for the entire time the music (were) was playing. After it finished, at first we were not able to say anything, because we were both so touched and surprised that it was all there, and that it was so beautiful. The tracks seemed to follow one another like pearls on a string. After we (just) had sat there for a while we agreed: This is really good. Musically, but also from a sound perspective. At first Åke wasn't sure if Esbjörn had recorded everything at home and just by himself. So he called different studios in Stockholm that he knew Esbjörn (were) was in contact with and asked them (weather) whether he had been there, recording anything. But no, he hadn't been anywhere. I know he had bought some very nice microphones and in the course of touring had learned from Åke how to use them. So it became clear that this music had to have been played and recorded in the basement of our house.
So there was nobody with him ? He was all alone doing that? He was all alone. In retrospect I have been thinking about it because the few people who know that this exists were asking me if I knew about it. What I did know was that Esbjörn was constantly working, as he always did. He was in the basement, and I could hear him play. But to me, this didn’t raise any questions. Is he doing something? Yes, of course he's doing something. That's what he always did. Rehearsing, practicing, composing. But for me it wasn’t clear that something new was happening. I did know that he was longing to have time to compose and play in different kinds of constellations, but I had no idea that it might be piano solo. Just weeks after making these solo recordings, Esbjörn died. Everything suddenly (got) took on another perspective. There was no way for me to focus on music. All I could do at that time was to make sure all the material he was working on was kept safe.
When did you hear the m usic for the first tim e? I think it was in 2017 or 18, maybe. This was really the first time? Yes, the first time. After almost ten years.
And you kept everything safe and untouched until then? Technically, yes… Well, I don’t know about safety, because it was in the cupboard. *laughs* But safe enough to be released now anyway. Life changed so dramatically after Esbjörn’s passing. For me and for us, it was not just Esbjörn, the musician, it was my husband and the children's father who was gone. That was what we had to deal with and find a way to live without.