Kajsa Lindgren - Momentary Harmony (2021) [Official Digital Download]

Swedish composer Kajsa Lindgren controls an environment of whisper-quiet fragility on her latest album for Sean McCann's Recital imprint. Clean, precise and contemporary, but rooted in European sacred music of the recent past >> one for fans of Félicia Atkinson, Sarah Davachi, Kali Malone or Arvo Pärt.

Lindgren reduces her sound to its bare essentials on "Momentary Harmony", drifting away from the electroacoustic ambience and field recording of its predecessors "Everyone Is Here" and "Womb" to explore the classical music she grew up with. Using voice, violin and piano, Lindgren creates the sound equivalent of a flickering candle in an icy church basement: quiet, warm and delicate.

The album is made up of familiar elements, but Lindgren rarely resorts to melancholy emotional manipulation. Instead, she turns to minimalism to hint at European early music: soft voices are layered to make distant choirs, violin reminds of low-key recitals and sparse piano notes sound like a relative playing in an adjacent room. It's almost like a community-led dreamworld re-imagining of the Arvo Pärt catalog: religious grandeur dialed back to a reassuring resonant hum.

Tracklist
1. Abundance (04:54)
2. For Voice I (00:59)
3. Pärlan (02:44)
4. Interlute (02:07)
5. Momentary Harmony (03:29)
6. Aero (02:44)
7. Intermission (01:37)
8. Punes (03:08)
9. Separate Thoughts (02:14)
10. Korall (07:00)
11. Feathers (01:12)
12. Vagga till sömns (03:18)
13. For Voice II (01:44)