The 49-year-old Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and exotic guitar collector Geir Sundstøl has amassed close to 300 recording appearances as a sideman, which might be a reason his own recordings have been a long time coming. In 2015 he released Fur U Lund and the following year Langen Ro on leading Norwegian indie Hubro. For the third, Brødløs, Sundstøl's trick is to merge vintage instrumental sonics that don't culturally belong together tabla, dulcimer, pedalsteel guitar and analogue synth are the least obscure items. To his great credit, Sundstøl pulls it off. This is a meticulous, delicately crafted set of tunes that give off a low-key, angelic sonic shimmer, avoiding any kind of cross-idiomatic fusion or musical tourism. A good example, ‘Snev’, the opener, is like a meeting of exotica luminary Martin Denny, ambient-era Eno and legendary film composer John Barry. Indeed, Brødløs's frequency is constantly tuned into a film soundtrack world, and Sundstøl's colour palette inevitably suggests Bill Frisell's work in that area. ‘Leben’ references classic Spaghetti Western-era Enrico Morricone, but in a parallel universe where Ry Cooder is soundtracking Norway's otherworldly, serene fjords rather than the wide-open parched plains of Paris, Texas. Trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, with whose band the leader has toured, plays a short but well-placed cameo. Sundstøl also quite miraculously pulls off an unlikely, yet seamlessly haunting, blend of Coltrane's ‘Alabama’ and Bowie's ‘Warszaw’.