Image via John Henriksson
Miguel OtĂĄrola was not prepared for a Twins playoff run happening the month before he gets married.
At the age most kids are starting tee ball or piano lessons, Sven Wunder was down in the basement of his childhood home in Stockholm watching jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz jam out with his dad on the drums.
âThey always rehearsed down in our basement when I was growing up,â says Wunder â whose real name is Joel Danell â of the world-renowned musicians his dad would bring over to play. âIt was a very nice way to get in contact with music at an early age.â
Theyâre experiences he wouldnât take for granted. At 39, heâs a composer who writes soundtracks for film and TV from his Stockholm studio. As Sven Wunder â an artist name which he says is not based on Stevie Wonder, by the way â he produces rich, decadent instrumental music that spans styles from across the globe.
His albums have explored traditional Turkish music (2019âs Eastern Flowers), Japanese jazz (2020âs Wabi Sabi) and lush movie soundtracks (2021âs Natura Morta). His newest, Late Again, released last week on Piano Piano Records, ventures into gentle ballads, lush hip-hop instrumentals and ballroom jazz. Itâs the kind of music that adds another dimension to your life, whether youâre writing emails at work, laying on the couch or having your friends over for dinner.
For Wunder, it all stems from his deep love for and knowledge of jazz, classical and folk. He has a particular fondness for movie soundtracks by Italian composers from the 1960s, as well as the âlibrary musicâ that was used in the mid-20th century for television, radio and other visual mediums.
Music like this isnât exactly rare, and acts like Thievery Corporation and Khruangbin have reached stardom with their own takes on non-Western grooves. But Wunderâs oeuvre stands apart from that of his contemporaries: he places more attention on the fidelity of a recording and the performances of his musicians. Like Italian director Luca Guadagnino, whose Call Me By Your Name indulged in the quaint, rustic landscapes of his home country, Wunder sets out to create a complete and lived-in picture, lavish in color, texture and history.
Late Again fine-tunes his compositions even more, showcasing simple and elegant melodies that sound as if theyâve existed for decades. âTake A Breakâ begins as a straightforward hip-hop beat but blossoms into seductive lounge led by scintillating strings. The albumâs middle section has several prominent flute solos. Backing horns, a vocal choir and featherweight drums gives standout âStars Alignâ the lively sway of an Arthur Verocai arrangement.
âStellar Platesâ and âAsterism Waltzâ wind the album down to starry jazz lullabies. The former builds around a wondrous piano motif while the latter features a twinkling guitar melody in the vein of Grant Green and Wes Montgomery. The titular closing track is a piano soliloquy similar to the omnipotent soundtrack work of the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. In this graceful final third, Late Again transcends to the level of Wunderâs own musical influences. Listening to it, you can feel the worries and responsibilities lifting off your shoulders and evaporating into the night sky.
âThe texture of a recording is the first thing I hear when I try to find new songs,â Wunder says. âYou can hear it in just one second, if Iâm going to like the song or not. For me, thatâs very important.â
When Wunder and I spoke over Zoom, Late Again was still weeks from release. In it, he talks about his upbringing, seasonal favorites and the virtues of easy listening music. Our interview, edited and condensed for your reading pleasure on POW is below.
It was my dad who put me in music school. Here in Sweden, when youâre 8 years old you can choose an instrument and start to study it at school. He was like, âHe wants to study bass.â Because then we could be a rhythm section [together]. [Laughs.] These days, I donât really play it that much.