Sven Wunder’s Wabi Sabi is a treasure trove of psychedelic breaks and beathead jams for crate diggers, library music aficionados and outsider funk fans

The secretive Sven Wunder can be found navigating outernational waters, occasionally landing at port with distinctly flavoured collections of psychedelic funk. So far these have taken the form of 2019’s Doğu Çiçekleri (issued here and in the US as Eastern Flowers) and the freshly delivered Wabi Sabi. Where the former is a b-boy stew of Anatolian funk-rock, the latter not only builds on the grooves, but makes a journey to Japan in search of inspiration. Geographically diverse library records are clearly the order of the day in Wunder’s world (he himself hails from Sweden), with each LP offering up its own particularly located array of breaks and beats to die for. Sven Wunder is most definitely one for the headz.

Each of the miniature worlds explored on Wabi Sabi feels newly discovered, as if David Axelrod had gone to town on Jon Hassell and buried the resulting magic, only for it to be dug up in 2020 by some enterprising crate digger. Proceedings are initiated with “Yūgen”, where Wunder lets the Eastern mysticism flow before unleashing squelching, shimmering funk that isn’t too far away from Money Mark playing with an Alice Coltrane number. Further exposure to cosmic radiation is guaranteed throughout the album. “Shinrinyoku” is more inward-looking, with a bassline that takes the listener by the hand through wondrous realms, whereas “Hanami” suggests the beginnings of a hero’s journey within its lushly bucolic cinematic vision. “Blanket Fog Descends” is piano-led lounge jazz with harp, hinting although not-exactly-arriving-at Galt MacDermott on homegrown psychedelics. European avant-garde cinema and wayward sitcoms are elsewhere evoked, in the best library music traditions.

There is nothing formulaic or phoned-in about any of the tracks on Wabi Sabi. Taken individually, they will make for evocative DJ tools – and indeed Mr Bongo Records (as well as stocking both LPs), have hooked up with the Piano Piano label to produce two collector’s edition 7”s, one from each album. We might not know much about Sven Wunder yet, but he’s already carving out a place for himself alongside the great weird instrumentalists and maverick producers.

Sven Wunder records at Mr Bongo

Stewart Gardiner
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