Yelena Eckemoff - Rosendals Garden III
"Ruins of Älvsborg" (L & H Productions, 2025)
Old Älvsborg was a medieval castle on the rocky outcrop known as Klippan, on the south bank of the Göta Älv river within the urban area of the modern city of Gothenburg. During the 1300s, the Göta Älv was Sweden’s sole point of access to the North Sea. The river mouth, and by extension the heights at Klippan overlooking it, therefore had immense strategic and military significance. While largely dismantled in the late 1600s, ruins remain just this side of the southern pylon of the Älvsborg Bridge. Sacred places like these keep the echoes of their pasts that can still resonate…
…in the faint militant march established by drummer Morgan Ågren in the opening moments of Yelena Eckemoff’s “Ruins of Alvsborg,” the newest single counting down to the release of Rosendals Garden. The march is faint as we are far from the Danish conflicts like the Northern Seven Years’ War in 1563 and the Kalmar War of 1612. It underpins the intelligence that rises from Eckemoff’s play of percussion against melody, a drama held together by Svante Henryson’s woody bass and cello playing. The piece evolves to a brief interlude where melody wins out and Eckemoff solos freely allowing Henryson the same room for cello. Much of the music-making recalls the composer’s excellent Scenes From The Dark Ages.
Leading up to this point, Eckemoff has released “Rosendals Garden” and “Strandvägen Pier,” promising more singles before the release of the entire album.