aaamusic | On 24, Sep 2011

Out of bounds is the fourth album by Trummor & Orgel – and their most complete so far. Despite the limitations of the two piece line-up, the Ljunggren brothers (Staffan on drums and Anders on organ and synths) succeed in finding new ways to develop their already rather special sound. The solely instrumental compositions heard on Out Of Bounds capture the aural glow of everything from the incidental music of ’60s Italian thrillers to the early ’70s UK sci-fi themes of Delia Derbyshire or Dudley Simpson, the go-go grooves of The Spencer Davis Group’s soundtrack to coming of age psychedelic comedy Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush and Island Records’ Wynder K Frogg to the floating jazz-tinged symphonic progressive-pop of Caravan and Sweden’s very own Bo Hansson – not forgetting the legion of late ’60s and ’70s library music that, like Trummor & Orgel themselves, borrow liberally from jazz, Latin, rock, psychedelic, progressive and electronic emblems in their own inimitable way. And that’s the thing with T & O (as they will now be referred to). Are they jazz, psychedelic, rock, easy listening or electronic? Are they melodic, groovy or stuck on the autobahn? There is no one answer. Further still. Are they of the future or stuck in the past? It’s impossible to say.

So how did this phenomenon of the modern/old world come to be? In 2003 the two brothers started to play out to friends as a side project after former bassist Anders learnt the Hammond rather quickly and wanted to perform. Yet it wasn’t until 2005 that they began to rehearse properly and recorded two demo CDs which found their way to Swedish svengali Fredrik Ekander (who was then at Sony). Ekander quickly picked them up for his fledgling Cosmos label for whom they debuted with second album, Reflections From A Watery World (2007), after their first was released on trendy clothing brand’s Nitty Gritty’s tie in label. Reflections… was produced by Ebbot Lundberg, vocalist with cult Swedish band Soundtrack Of Our Lives, who also sung on the single, ‘Tomorrow Will Tell’ – which later appeared on the soundtrack of Mans Herngren’s 2009 film, Allt Flyter (Everything Flows).

T & O’s profile continued to grow through 2009 with successful tours of Scandinavia, a whole host of television and radio performances and more film work than they could shake their first at. They even composed a score for Jean Epstein’s Fall Of The House Of Usher which was performed live at  Stockholm’s Cinemateket to both public and critical acclaim.
Following on from the spy-film inspired EP, Thunderball Sessions and their third (self-produced) album in 2010, Visions – which featured collaborations with legendary jazz vocalist Magnus Carlson – the duo now release their fourth album, Out Of Bounds. The dreamy progressive arrangements from Visions are still present, heard on tracks like ‘Corduroy’ and ‘Wait And See’, but a larger part of the album is taken overwith different styles from uptempo groove laden like title track ‘Out Of Bounds’ and the mid-70s electronic pop of ‘Worlds Collide’. Recorded and produced by the brothers themselves and mixed in the legendary Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, it’s a record that oozes analogue warmth.

Critics have always leapt at the Hammond jazz comparisons of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff or Swede legends Hansson & Karlsson when discussing T & O, and although the duo are used to this because of their prominent use of Hammond and drums (eg a jazz set up) the modish brothers claim to find far more inspiration from The Small Faces, The Charlatans (UK), Procol Harum and Deep Purple, rather than jazz. But as stated in the introductory paragraph, there’s a lot more to them than ’60s beat and psych bands.

Theirs isn’t music stuck in one mould! Regardless of how it may be labelled! Decide for yourself and call it what you will. The most important aspect, however, is that T & O’s latest pieces of music – as heard on the brand new album Out of Bounds –  are without limits or boundaries! They’re not black, white, new or old… this is the unique sound of the almighty two piece combination punch that is Trummor & Orgel.