Rooms Inside by Gunnar Backman

released July 7, 2022

Photo by Yener Ozturk

Homage to Peter Greenaway
and Michael Nyman.

Gunnar Backman // Rooms Inside // cat.nr. brako 1247 // copyright Brakophonic Records // P 2022 Brakophonic Records // ALL RIGHTS RESERVED // Contact // www.brakophonic.com

www.freejazzblog.org/2023/03/brakophonicgunnar-backman.html
By Nick Ostrum

“As one might expect from a full (48 minute) solo album, Backman extends on Rooms Inside in a way he does not on some the shorter releases in this review. All tracks have some sort of layering and processing beyond just a pedal, but Backman is still able to explore different territories. Corridors, for instance, flirts with feedback noise and dissonance, but keeps returning to a clear guitar jangle that grounds the piece and emphasizes the tension between an almost prog-poppy order and dissolution/noise. I imagine Hendrix, Lou Reed and the show Twin Peaks (Towers, a real treasure on the album) exercised some influence over Backman’s approach to guitar, though he distinguishes himself even more in the production. Apart from a few points where phrases are deliberately clean, much of this has gone through some refraction and layering process that turns what could have come off as onanistic noodling into a glitchy and intriguing set of guitar “solos.” Backman often veers toward noise, but, even at his most disjointed, he always falls back into space rock structures and metal-inflected guitar riffage that add coherence and make this an album very much worth seeking out.”