Christofer Bjurström: solo piano
Recorded in June 2020 at Meudon’s studio by Sami Bouvet
« C’est tout ce que nous aurions voulu faire et n’avons pas fait,
Ce qui a voulu prendre la parole et n’a pas trouvé les mots qu’il fallait,
Tout ce qui nous a quittés sans rien nous dire de son secret,
Ce que nous pouvons toucher et même creuser par le fer sans jamais l’atteindre,
Ce qui est devenu vagues et encore vagues parce qu’il se cherche sans se trouver,
Ce qui est devenu écume pour ne pas mourir tout à fait,
Ce qui est devenu sillage de quelques secondes par goût fondamental de l’éternel,
Ce qui avance dans les profondeurs et ne montera jamais à la surface,
Ce qui avance à la surface et redoute les profondeurs,
Tout cela et bien plus encore,
La mer. » (Jules Supervielle / Oublieuse Mémoire)
The essential subject of this album is an exploration of the vestige, the traces, an interrogation about our inner landscapes: how are they constructed, of what are they made?
At the beginning of this intimate journey are nine poems which were in a way the starting factors of the tunes in this album.
Poems by Jules Supervielle, Abdellatif Laâbi, Claude Roy, Bo Carpelan, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Raymond Carver.
Press review
In Écume de mai, [Christofer Bjurström] proves once again his talent as a storyteller, with clear contours and no emphasis, at the heart of the emotion, without avoiding bizarre or unpleasant feelings, since the life of a musician is not a long quiet river. It is also from the heart of a confined spring 2020 that the pianist addresses his musical reflections tinged with doubt and humor. It is the strength of this record which, although narrative and highly litterary, holds more modernism than romanticism. This Foam seems to be born as a desire to fight with the discomfort, an ode to oddity, a hymn to uncertainty.
(Anne Yven, Citizen Jazz, 01/14/2021) (read review (in french))
A long-time Finisterian, the discreet pianist Christofer Bjurström does not make any noise, but, and it is much better, he plays high-flying music. A new proof with this very delicate «Foam of May» , recorded last year and fed by the frequentation of the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Jules Supervielle, Raymond Carver or Abdellatif Laâbi. No big, flashy organs here (this is not the kind of man), but the flow of a stream of emotion and sensations, willingly introspective.
…. A nice surprise…
(Alex Dutilh in French Radio France Musique, Open Jazz, France Musique, 12/14/2020) (read review ) (link to the radio program)
A beautiful musical universe with the flying notes from the keyboard and the different percussions on the cordier
(Alain Lambert, musicologie.org, December 2020) (read review)
…its musical and subtle performance. Served by an excellent sound recording, and for who is willing to open his mind, you will travel here from a debussysm, an africanism to a monkism (2nd tune of the album reminidng San Fancisco Holiday) or listen to your feelings and imagination towards the inner landscapes that will come to your mind.
(Pierre Gros, Culture Jazz, December 2020) (read review (in French))
Christofer Bjurström succeeds in producing a music which can be both resistant and liquid, with shapes rising and disappearing, diving in the heart of intimacy…. (…).More fluid impressionnist melodies, luminous momentum healing the splittered horizons, bringing back towards familiar shores, with hope. That is the way we listen to this archipelago piano, singular plural that knows how to accompany the images of a movie that would be playing inside our mind.
(Sophie Chambon, Les Dernières Nouvelles du Jazz, December 2020) (read review (in French))
…The music of this beautiful « Ecume de mai » is to be listened as a series of meditations, that have to be experienced not as a deviation from the world but as a way towards the right place everyone is worth of, and looks for, in front of what surrounds him.
(Michel Arcens, Notes de Jazz , December 2020) (read review (in French))
…An unusual album for me as a listener, but I must confess that I made a wonderful discovery, which is worth listening to ! If mind openness and imagination are among your qualities, you will simply find this jazz album magnificent ! A real big favorite.!
Dominique Boulay PARIS-MOVE & Blues Magazine (Fr), November 2020 (read review (in French))
Listen to excerpts
The CD booklet (in french) is downloadable here:
