Best of 2017 #22: Fabel – “Fabel” (Jaeger Community Music)

This video-as-album project is some serious enchantment.  Pianist Kasper Staub, bassist Jens Mikkel and trumpeter Jakob Sørensen teamed up with cinematographer André Hansen, and their music and imagery are the perfect match for one another.  One song melts into the next like scenes shifting to different landscapes and backdrops.  Sometimes Sørensen’s trumpet is the moonlight filtering through the trees and sometimes it’s the fireplace generating warmth.  Staub’s piano is the sunlight bending through a window pane, splashing a melody across the floor.  The soft footfalls of Mikkel’s bass marks both the passing of time and the motion of passing through it.  It’s an illustration how an economy of sound can radiate a presence like a storm cloud threatening rain.  It’s proof that some of the most powerful melodies are crafted with nothing more than just a few perfect notes in a perfect place.  Fabel is as lovely as it gets.

Music from Aarhus, Denmark.

Read more on Bird is the Worm.