Norwegian guitarist Sundstøl has already enjoyed a highly successful career as a session musician, working with Nils Petter Molvær and others – but this is the first time he's had his own name on the cover. There's absolutely no doubting his chops. His bottleneck slide technique is astonishing, blending the ragged buzz of the strings with a masterful precision of expression and deliciously curled motifs. He's just as good on pedal steel and his banjo-like plucking comes with a convincingly rustic feel. At its best, the portentous majesty of some of the music on Furulund reminds of Meddle-era Pink Floyd – but it suffers from a surfeit of sweetness. With its melancholy slide melody and spare, plinking percussion, the title track sounds like Mark Knopfler and Ryuchi Sakamoto collaborating on the soundtrack to a bittersweet romantic tearjerker about a lonely lighthouse keeper finding a love note in a bottle. Let's be honest, who wants to see that?