Lundvall, Tor – The last light

Tor Lundvall came to my attention through his lovely cover art for Sol Invictus. Later I browsed his online galleries and enjoyed his colourful and easily recognizable work: always very colourful, yet mysterious, with solitary figures dwelling in surreal landscapes. To my surprise Lundvall was also active as a musician. First he did a collaboration with Tony Wakeford, “Autumn Calls”, followed by three other albums, which together form a cycle based on the four seasons.

In the past Lundvall was usually associated with the now defunct World Serpent label, but he has found a new home at Strange Fortune’s in house label. On his new album “Last light”, which comes in a nice digipack with some moody, hazy paintings, you can find new examples of Lundvall’s atmospheric and melancholic work. With each release his music gets a little more song-based, with more (soft) vocals added to his still dominantly instrumental ethereal soundscapes, created amongst others with piano, keyboard and samples. The 12 tracks on “Last light” sound very subtle and dreamy and manage to affect me.

It seems as if every tone is added very carefully, like a thin line put on a painting. The music is slow and hypnotizing and gives the feeling that it slowly reaches through a thick layer of mist. Some references that come to my mind are David Sylvian and some Legendary Pink Dots material. Very refined, balanced music which makes you slowly drift away into the shadows…

artist: Lundvall, Tor
label: Strange Fortune
details: 12 tracks, 2004 {SF2]