Maybe it was inevitable that Vilhelm Bromander and Fredrik Rasten would find each other. A symbiotic musical alliance of suggestive combinatory magik that stretches back to the interstitial two day space that separates their dates of birth and manifests here as the movement between ‘perfect’ or ‘just’ intonation and the ragged, psychoactive energy of the slippages from and towards that togetherness that render otherwise simple patterns or generally understood repetitions as wildly other and alive.
Astral Twins shares ‘twin’ works by each composer. The patiently unfolding real time retuning of Fredrik Rasten’s guitars on the a-side’s Sojourns and Vilhelm Bromander’s quickened steps and spry looping melodies on the flip’s Partially Dancing.
Both artists have history of going deep into the aesthetic and acoustic impact of intonation (how you think about what is ‘in tune’). Where their first LP (...for some reason that escapes us, 2019, Differ Records) shared a gorgeous set of sustained tone colour fields, this time they lean more explicitly into the folk music traditions of Scandinavia and further afield, whilst echoing the zoned minimalist atmosphere of Arthur Russell’s classic Instrumentals.
Recorded up close and in real time at Fylkingen’s soon-to-be-abandoned temporary location in Stockholm’s southern suburb of Bredäng, Astral Twins sings with the possibility that one plus one can equal more than two.
Fredrik Rasten:
Sojourns explores the live retuning of guitar and double bass in a sequence of pure intervals. A guitar ostinato runs throughout the piece where the retuning becomes an integral part of the composition. As listeners we are invited to follow how the harmonies modulate, and how interferences/beats come and go before the sound settles and gains an almost electric clarity. The double bass shadows the guitar's process and comments with occasional pizzicato tones and register jumps, sometimes providing a low foundation for the sound and sometimes soaring together with the guitar. This is music that is deeply listening; experimental and at the same time humbly inviting many kinds of listening and being.
Vilhelm Bromander:
As the title suggests, this song has a partially dancing character but also a double meaning with reference to the partial tones that dance. The basic idea was to write music in just intonation that is reminiscent of a lightly dancing folk music rather than drone-based and where the joyous feeling of just doing — “musicking" — leads the way. The double bass plays repeated overtone double stops in a predetermined progression, an open harmonic space with subtle modulations that is inspired in equal parts by Steve Lacy's persistent repetition of phrases and Thai folk music. The guitars and mandolin have a freer role, with plucked retuned strings that follow the bass's modulations and provide forward movement. The music moves between melodic and spectral listening, suddenly halting so that other focal points can reveal themselves. For example, a chord sequence suddenly transitions to a more spectral part where Fredrik is playing a bowed guitar with a chain, several plucking guitars, voices, and pitch pipes. I wanted to make something ‘orchestral’ with just two people and no overdubs: a dance of overtones and open resonant strings, where we seamlessly take turns standing in the foreground.
Credits
Vilhelm Bromander Double Bass, Voice, Pitch Pipe
Fredrik Rasten Guitars, Mandolin, Voice, Pitch Pipe
Sojourns composed by Fredrik Rasten. Partially Dancing composed by Vilhelm Bromander. All music performed in real time by Vilhelm Bromander and Fredrik Rasten. Recorded Sunday 23 march 2025 at Fylkingen, Bredäng. Sound capture and balance: John Chantler. Mastered by Andreas [lupo] Lubich. Cover artwork by Simen Engen Larsen. c + p 2026. This lp is Fönstret—18.
Vilhelm Bromander (1988) is a Swedish bass player and composer deeply entwined in the Stockholm experimental and free jazz scene. He can be heard in groups such as Svenska Folkjazzkvartetten, Christer Bothén 3,in duo with Fredrik Rasten and with Elin Forkelid plays for Trane among others.
Vilhelm has also worked a lot with solo double bass - where he directs his focus to acoustic details such as beating, common partials and difference tones – to hear what happens with our perception when we allow ourselves to be immersed in sound for a longer stretch of time. In January -22 he also debuted as a soprano saxophone player with his new chamber work, Aurora, that was released by warm winters ltd.
As an improviser he has played with musicians like Axel Dörner, Tisha Mukarji, Michael Thieke, Sten Sandell, Phil Minton, Mazen Kerbaj, Maria W. Horn, Christer Bothén, Katt Hernandez, Lisa Ullén, Henrik Olsson to name a few. He is also an active session musician and has played with Daniel Johnston, Sara Parkman, Saigon, Musette, Joe Davolaz, Rotem Geffen, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, The Tiny & Music Is The Weapon.
Fredrik Rasten (born 1988) is a guitarist and composer based in Oslo and Berlin. He is primarily focusing on musical exploration of just intonation and related sound phenomena, and in his work he is reaching for an actively listening state wherein to intuitively explore the complexities of tone and harmony.
On the guitar he is applying real time retuning of the instrument, vocal shadings and different preparations to create warm and fluctuating resonances.
As a composer he is mostly creating music for smaller ensembles and collaborative projects where the ongoing exploration of pitch relations is guiding the work, while also finding inspiration in early music, folk traditions and reductionist expressions.
Other elements influencing his work include ideas of music as social, non-hierarchical practices, and essential philosophical conundrums, such as the elusive relationship between mind and matter.
He is currently active in the Berlin based collective Harmonic Space Orchestra, the duo Pip with Torstein Lavik Larsen and with his solo project, among other things.
