For their third album on the award-winning ACT label, Tonbruket, the Swedish collective formed by ex-EST bassist Dan Berglund, take inspiration from Abbey Road Studio Two and its mystical rock heritage. They recorded there in the spring and it’s more the swirly epic space-rock of Pink Floyd – as opposed to the studio’s most famous zebra-crossing residents The Beatles – that you hear in their atmospherically crafted, tough-and-tender sound. The David Gilmour-like, specialist lap and pedal steel guitarist Johan Lindström (he and Berglund met in the 1990s playing in the notable Swedish multi-reedist Per Texas Johansson’s band) plays a pivotal role in the band’s dynamic sonic soundscape. But that’s not to say the band are retro at all; both keyboardist/violinist Martin Hederos and drummer Andreas Werliin are alt-rock stars in their own right, respectively in The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Wildbirds & Peacedrums. The set of originals, split between band members, can draw from the hypnotic loops of post-rock à la Tortoise say, as much as the stuff of the past. Formerly a four-letter word, prog has been rejuvenated of late in the hands of a number of contemporary electric jazz groups, but Tonbruket don’t fit that bill. Compact and concise, they eschew long solos. In that respect Nubium Swimstrip does come out a bit low on improvisation. But as with Berglund’s erstwhile EST bandmate Magnus Öström’s new solo career – and of course Esbjörn Svensson himself – melody and sound are everything.

Jazzwise spoke to Dan Berglund about the album

What for you and the band are the recordings that inspired you to record at Abbey Road?

Since I was a child I have listened to many records recorded at Abbey Road: The Beatles, Pink Floyd etc. I think that it is every musician’s dream to record there. Already when I played with EST we talked about going there to record but it never happened. The EST DVD was mastered there. In the early days with Tonbruket we talked about recording at Abbey Road and finally the dream came true.

How did the studio space, working with the old equipment and away from home impact on the recording?

To go away from home to record makes it easier to concentrate on the work. You don’t have to care about your everyday tasks like you usually do. The studio space at Abbey Road was the main reason why we went there but we didn’t know anything about the sound in the room. But since there are so many fantastic recordings made in Studio 2, we knew that the room had something special, and we were right. The studio equipment is maintained at the highest level and of course we recorded on tape. The room is terrific, the acoustic, the feeling and the history interact with the music of Tonbruket. You can really feel the history in the walls, frightening, a humility but at the same time making me very proud to have had the opportunity of working at Abbey Road. The best thing about it was to spend so much time together with Tonbruket and our sound engineer Ake Linton. To share the experience with my best friends.

As it was with EST, it must be important to get the sound you want when you go out to play live this autumn?

It’s very important with the live sound. If the sound isn’t good enough you take away the whole experience from the audience and that’s not what we want.