A burst of outré energy

A native of Iceland, Sigurdur Rögnvaldsson (b. 1980) studied music in Sweden, with a heavy emphasis on improvisation, before relocating to Helsinki around ten years ago. Soon carving himself a niche on the burgeoning jazz scene of the Finnish capital, the guitarist and composer established fruitful working relationships with the likes of singer Anni Elif Egecioglu and guitarist Raoul Björkenheim.

Coming off as a versatile team player on Kisima, the 2015 debut offering by his band Dark Forest, Rögnvaldsson is now ready to take a confident step into the limelight with the team’s second effort. However, when not soloing to his heart’s content, even as bandleader his forté is still his generous and subdued style of embellishing the music and setting the stage for saxophonist Johannes Sarjasto, bass player Eero Tikkanen and drummer Ville Pynssi to shine.

Originally founded as a concept project in 2013, Rögnvaldsson’s team has grown into a thoroughbred band with a highly developed collaborative consciousness. Taking their cue more often from vintage avant-garde rock than from traditional jazz per se, Dark Forest makes its biggest waves on Horizon with raunchy, rough-and-ready tracks like Outburst and Onwards and Upwards.

SIGURDUR RÖGNVALDSSON'S DARK FOREST: Horizon

Sigurdur Rögnvaldsson  (electric guitar, synthesizer)
Johannes Sarjasto – (saxophone)
Eero Tikkanen – (bass)
Ville Pynssi – (drums)

2018 Eclipse Music ECD-201875