Convergence

スウェーデン出身のベーシスト、ビョルン・マイヤーによる2作目のソロ・アルバム。

前作『Provenance』(2017年)で確立した音楽的基盤をさらに発展させている作品で、ベース・ギターの技術的可能性を駆使して印象的な音響と粒状のテクスチャーを構築しつつ、その音が生まれる音響空間への鋭い意識も併せ持つ。ロンドン・ジャズ・ニュース誌は前作のレビューで「旋律的な遊び心と感情の激しさは高音部記号の領域だけのものではない。マイヤーのベースは歌う」と評した。本作ではベース奏者の雰囲気ある探求が聴き手の心にイメージを喚起する。技術的革新は歌心あふれる楽曲群の中でさらに広がりを見せている。これは単なる器楽的技量の記録を超え、それ自体が完結した作品として感じられる。
2024年9月に録音され、マンフレッド・アイヒャーがプロデュースを担当。
〈パーソネル〉 Bjorn Meyer(6-String Electric Bass)

Swedish bassist Bjorn Meyer pulls you deep within his low-pitched dream on his second solo ECM album, 2026s Convergence. Known for his work with the progressive folk trio Bazar Bla, Meyer has explored an array of styles, working with Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem, Persian-born Swiss harpist Asita Hamidi, and adventurous Swiss pianist Nik Bartsch. While he brings all of this vast boundary-crossing experience to bear on his solo work, he distills his vision, playing everything on his six-string electric bass. Acting as a sound sculptor, he carves great tonal bodies that sweep over you like snowdrifts on arctic tundra. Often, as on the opening "Convergence," he multi-tracks himself, laying down a sea of harmonic chords that groan with a hint of natural reverb before answering with a series of fluttering arpeggiated riffs like gulls over a dusky inlet. Equally evocative moments follow as he conjures a nightmarish doom on "Drift," contrasting guttural bass moans against the twilight bell-tone sparkle of fretboard harmonics. While much of the album has a new age tone poem quality, there are equal moments of tender melody, as on "Gravity," which sounds like a contemporary folk song done instrumentally, or "Hiver" which has the measured introspection of pianist Bill Evans classic 60s trio. With Convergence, Meyer has crafted an album thats as technically virtuosic as it is affectingly atmospheric. ~ Matt Collar