MOSAIK

Mosaik is a very peculiar prog album: a mixed bag indeed, it focuses mostly on the relaxing side of prog, be it the pastoral trend or the jazzy one - I mention these two because they are the dominant aspects of this varied repertoire. The album kicks off with 'Återfunnen', a track thet openly invites us to stick our train of thought into a reflective optimism: the combination of dual soft classical guitars and delicate flute lines is very effective for that matter. 'Björnstorp' is quite different - a reminder of the jazz- friendly side of Atlas (in fact, this album already appeared on the CD edition of "Blå Vardag" as a bonus track). 'Kirstens rum' displays an 8 ½ minute excursion across shades of twilight, based on Spartan piano chords complemented by the bass guitar and later on ornamented by soaring guitar soundscapes and floating baritone sax lines: picture a mixture of Camel's 'Elke' and Weather Repor's melancholic side and you might as well have it figured out. 'Tiden bara går' offers yet another change of mood, this time under the guise of acoustic pop-folk: something like Donovan-meets-Ritchie Havens. This sort of naive serenity will be later reiterated on 'Pappa har gått vilse' (a James Taylor cover). I sure enjoy these tracks since they are good examples of well-constructed pastoral themes with a patent intimate mood, but I'm not sure these tw osongs fit well in the subtile equilibrium built on the remaining tracks in the rpepertoire. Had these two aforesaid songs not existed, the balance between the introspective slow pieces and the swing instilled in the uptempo tracks would have felt more complete (more complete with less parts, mmm. an interesting notion...). Let's go back to the album itself, shall we? 'Önnestad' somewhat brings us back to the crepuscular atmospheres already stated on tracks 1 & 3, but things are not exactly the same: the pronounced piano phrases and the playful soprano sax lines make this piece more intense in comparison, in spite of preserving the predominance of the introspective spirit. 'Ett oskrivet blad' prologues this flavor of ethereal, pastoral-related jazzy atmospheres, although there is some chamber influence here, too: maybe Satie, since the duet of piano and acousrtic guitar really enjoys leaving empty spaces among chords. With its 13 ¾ minute span, 'Re-Båpp' is a solid journey into the dynamics of jazz-prog a-la Return to Forever-meets-Weather Report. The rhythm duo's deliver yis simple delicious, and so are the electric guitar, synth and electric piano leads that go emerging along the way. This piece never gets boring. 'Trio' is the only track where the symphonic factor is exclusively essential: it sounds like a Bardens solo piece ornamented with acoustic guitar and baritone sax in other to emphasize the main melody's central nuances. This track's kind lyricism finds a partial counterpart in teh closing track 'Gul, röd, orange', which finds Janne Persson exploring the calmer side of avant-prog: the Frith-inspired guitar soundscapes and the Dün-like flute lines state an unhidden air of mystery through an autumnal fog. Lyricial, yet somehow a little creepy, this piece happens to be a very interesting closure for a very interesting prog album. Not as focused as it should have been, and certainly not a perfect example of sonic cohesiveness, but all in all, Mosaik is a name that deserves to be part of any good prog collection. This item deserves a proper CD edition.

Mosaik have been considered as an off-shoot band of the legendary Swedish proggers Atlas, but instrumental credits reveal the secret of a rather personal project by the band's guitarist Janne Persson, even if a couple of other Atlas members are on the album, namely keyboardist Erik Bjorn Nielsen and bassist Ulf Hedlund.Apparently Persson started this effort only months after the release of Atlas' ''Bla vardag'' album, kicking off with the recordings in 1980 at Berges Ljudstudio in Malmo.Persson is the only musician to be featured in all tracks, helped out by a long list, including Hans Annéllsson on guitar, Micke Pinotti on drums, Dan Bornemark and Karl Witting on lead vocals, Peter Nilsson on saxes and Tomas Gunnarsson on violin.The self-titled album of Mosaik came out in 1981 in a private vinyl press.

It starts off quite nicely with some lovely Folk elements and melodic Symphonic Rock leanings with strong GENESIS overtones, much in the vein of compatriots ISILDURS BANE, with ''Bjornstorp'' being a real winner, highlighted by intense instrumental interplays, crafty melodies and some ethnic nuances.But soon Persson would take the whole thing into a softer, jazzier direction with some Avant-Garde leanings and evident minimalistic tendencies, resulting an effort empty of consistency, dynamics and energy.The rest of the album lies somewhere between Jazz, Jazz Rock and Chamber Folk, moving far away from electric textures and structured around sax, violin, flute and piano lines, which create very relaxing and slow music to the point it becomes quite hypnotic and monotonous.The pair of vocal tracks has an Acoustic Pop flair, the long pieces are extremely overstreched with repetitive ideas and gentle instrumentation and only the 14-min. ''Re-Bapp'' contains some room for the reincarnation of instrumental intensity and careful interactions.Pretty much a period long piece with angular synth lines and lots of jazzy piano in a Fusion matrix, much keyboard-driven with soloing excess and overall a questionable sound.More dynamics are only left to be desired, Persson & co. will soon return into a pastoral and soft musicianship with no particular direction or hidden values, following a Jazz/Folk vein.

As soon as the story of Mosaik was over, Persson remained for a few years in the music industry, playing with smaller bands, like Jackwave or Hard Rockers Grace, while Nielsen played also until late-80's with Bag Of Rhythm and Silver Mountain.

Promosing Symph/Folk start, which soon will fall into a minimalistic enviroment of uninteresting jazzy and folky sounds.Recommended to prog collectors, as no CD issue has ever seen the light and the original press has become pretty expensive over time.