Joel Lyssarides

Piano

For Swedish pianist Joel Lyssarides, substance and depth always take precedence over grand concepts, emotion and expression over mere virtuosity. For him, making music is like searching for grains of sand in the desert. A continuous journey of many small steps. His music thrives on its details: the finest nuances, subtle shifts in harmony, groove and dynamics. And from a characteristic, crystal-clear but never sharp sound on the piano. The fact that Joel Lyssarides' music has now reached over 100 million streams shows that this quiet intensity is finding an audience worldwide.

Lyssarides belongs to that generation of European jazz musicians who have long since left stylistic boundaries behind. He is a sought-after partner – currently alongside Nils Landgren and as part of the e.s.t. tribute project with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström, but also as a composer for pop productions and video game music. However, the piano trio remains at the centre of his work – the formation in which his musical cosmos unfolds most directly.

Joel Lyssarides' new album Late on Earth is the result of an unusually long and intense process. Over more than four years, the music developed in close collaboration with producer Andreas Brandis – a creative dialogue that encouraged Lyssarides to break new ground. "It was almost therapeutic. On the one hand, Andreas knows what I'm capable of musically, but I also shared a lot of my doubts with him. In the end, we decided everything together: the choice of musicians, the studio (in this case, the legendary Bauer Studio), the songs, the final takes. All of that helped me enormously, and I don't think I've ever been able to capture who I am and what I feel so honestly on a recording before.‘ And he jokes: ’For the first time, I also have pieces in major keys on an album!"

A particularly important reason for the emotional depth of the music was that Brandis encouraged Lyssarides to take more risks and let go of his idea of perfection. ‘Especially at a time when music is increasingly digitally polished or even completely generated by AI, Andreas was primarily interested in the opposite: the human touch. In the end, it's often the little imperfections that bring music to life. It's about capturing the search for who you are, for your sound, your expression.’

Joel Lyssarides does not follow any conceptual agenda. His music arises from immediate experience. ‘I sit down at the piano, feel something – and play, often for hours.’ Many pieces on Late on Earth were born out of such moments: out of insomnia, out of love, out of fleeting thoughts or small observations. And for Lyssarides, it is a great joy when these small moments make their way out to listeners and develop a life of their own. This can also feel bizarre, as he describes: ‘Recently, another pianist sent me his version of one of my pieces and wrote how much it meant to him. And I thought: Wait a minute, I wrote that piece at four in the morning in my underwear.’

Late on Earth is a collection of sincere musical snapshots – full of beauty, sometimes with rough edges, always carried by great emotional clarity.