in the shade

One of the challenges facing the contemporary artist is how to negotiate a balance between an outward facing engagement with the wider world and an inward looking focus on a private inner realm, it's exactly this tension that gives such energy and depth to in the shade, the stunning second album from Finnish singer/composer Selma Savolainen. Selma's powerful voice and her adventurous musicality are the driving forces behind a mesmerising set of songs that are rooted in contemporary jazz but use a sound-world that ranges far beyond, bringing in influences from the adventurous edges of post-rock and beyond.