4 out of 5

Label: Trost

Produced by: Leonardo Perez (mixed by)

The “liner notes” for Brom’s Sunstroke consist of a wandering diatribe from Mats Gustafsson – a big proponent of the band, and I’d assume a reason they dropped some releases on Trost – expounding on the power of breaking rules in music, and how you both innately and through study know those rules in order to keep on breaking them – and how Brom very, very much encompasses that. There’s also some swearing and namedropping, and, like, waiving off that he’s doing any proper liner notes, man, these are just words…

Brom has always had a pretty violent sound, touted via Mats-influenced sax or a buzzing bass, but their buildup to Sunstroke – their 8th album – step through forms closer to more “traditional” free jazz, with a fair amount of experimentation and deconstruction built into that, which is maybe two other ways of saying the same thing. Their lineup has frequently been in flux, but the Sunstoke variant came together on the preceding album ‘Refined Sugar;’ its live recording, or the newness of drummer Yaroslav Kurylo perhaps lent it a bit of caution – the low-end heavy sound is present, but it’s a pretty accessible jazz record that, like, Bad Plus fans might enjoy.

Sunstroke’s cartoonish cover of a beheading should give you notice: we’re back, baby. Leaning way into Kurylo’s kit abilities, Brom amps up the chaos, going for full-on Zu heft to kick things off, but stretching out the beats in a break-everything fashion very true to the band. Most reviews will mention this opener ‘Plunge Into an Icehole’ – because it is a pretty stunning tour de force, but I’d caution that it’s a slight distraction in a way: it’s the group pulling out all stops. You hear this also in the two covers on the disc – Gillespie’s Tune and Mingus’ Mingus 30 degrees C: Brom loves showing what they can do, and with Kurylo bringing punk chops, they essentially turn every opportunity for musical slaughter into exactly that, just so they can pull back and do a cute traditional riff, note-for-note. It’s a fun trick. It aligns with what Mats is trying to say: breaking rules while showing you know them; making music that’s pure, unbridled inspiration but also paying tribute. And if you sense a lil’ bit of bullshit in all that – like, be kind, but be punk rock, and I’ll determine what the right balance is – well, yes. Brom’s bullshit is always what kind of holds them back, to me. It’s fun, but a bit too self-aware.

Thankfully, we have plenty of other material which is – to me – punk jazz perfection. The dirgey Queue shows off how restraint makes the explosions hit hard; and Urtica and Hematoma both go way off menu with their sounds, breaking into post-rock territory while maintaining that underpinning of jazz, and a punky beat. These tracks are unstoppable.

To be clear – the other stuff is awesome as well. Mats fans who’ve enjoyed the artist’s pairings with rockers will find like minds here, though Brom is always on the side of jazz, and that dedication gives them a broad palette to mix and mingle things together.