Description
For over a century, the trumpet has carried voices that have reshaped the musical landscape. With Hive Mind, Linnea Jonsson steps into Swedish music history - not merely as a promise for the future, but as a luminous and unmistakable voice of our time. Hive Mind is a story about reality as a perpetual cycle and our essential interdependence as human beings. Linnea Jonsson grips the listener's arm firmly, unfolding the sonic landscapes of her acclaimed debut into a soundscape that reaches far beyond the boundaries of genre. The album captures a youthful Scandinavian melancholy yet also embracing the belief in collective consciousness and the transformative power of deep connection. "To me, 'Hive Mind' isn't just an album," Linnea says, "it's an invitation into a musical space where the listener becomes part of something greater." With a compelling blend of understated strength and lyrical sensitivity, Linnea sits in the core of the collective, guiding both her fellow musicians and the listener with her warm, storytelling tone - raw yet refined. Her phrases flow, as if every note has its own breath, while she intuitively and playfully surprises and allows herself to be surprised. "I've long felt a desire to create and express without pressure - to just play for myself, rather than to prove anything to anyone, including myself. It's easy to get caught up in perfectionism in the studio and forget the music itself. So going into this recording, I reminded myself that this is just a documentation of the music I've written - and most importantly - a documentation of the meeting between us musicians in the studio. I also realized that it's not just a record of my musical journey, but of a personal, inner one as well." Linnea is joined on the new album by pianist Lars Jansson - a legend in Swedish jazz - who also contributes with the composition Writing in Water. "It's as if he wrote it just for us", she says. "To my great joy, Lars agreed to join the project, and his experience in both music and life added so much to the atmosphere and joy of the session. Several of my songs - like "Joy of Being" - are deeply inspired by Lars, even though I never imagined the dream of making music with him would actually come true. We also share a love for meditation, which made this collaboration feel like a perfect fit." The heart and concept of Hive Mind stem from the practices of meditation and yoga - a vision of collective consciousness where everything is connected if we just scratch the surface. Like bees communicating wordlessly as they move in unison, the musicians connect intuitively through the music, seeking paths toward something larger than themselves. Hive Mind is the sum of many musical worlds - shadows of ECM, Nordic jazz pioneers, and the contemporary jazz scene of New York are a few of them. Alongside Linnea and Lars, the ensemble features Johan Tengholm (double bass), Bjarni Mar Ingolfsson (guitar), Henrik Jaderberg (drums), and Lina Lovstrand (alto flute).
