Sven Wunder – ‘Daybreak’ album review: postcard easy listening, unfortunately
For his fifth studio album, Sven Wunder, the moniker of composer and musician Joel Danell from Sweden, looks to the simple but captivating phenomena of sunrise, the process of the natural world’s awakening that has fascinated humanity since the dawn of time.
It’s a tantalising conceptual hook. In a busy age where stillness and spiritual escapism feel more essential than ever, Wunder’s aural score of earthy renewal and universal rousal could inspire stirring portraits perfectly befitting his characteristic weave of jazz-pop percussion and woozy brass. Or, such thematic anchors could swirl around with little fanfare, depicting a postcard vignetta of the morning outside some tourist seaside resort balcony.
This is the nagging problem with Daybreak. Ambitions to reach some organic nucleus just never feel far away from the mini bar behind you, desperate gleaning of Mother Nature’s blossoming prowess interrupted by the arrival of hors d’oeuvres and the hotel’s second-best house white wine in ice. Try as he might, Wunder crafts a soundtrack that literally feels pumped from the hotel elevator speakers over the whistling sirens of natural vistas bathed in the early hours’ light.
Wunder weaves his easy listening instrumentation with as much deft authority as one would expect from a Grammy-nominated artist. Flutes, organs, nimble drums, and pastel basslines gel and ripple together underneath his production finesse, yet Daybreak’s soundfont starts to wear thin real fast, the palette of sonic flavours forever dwelling in the same maritime template never pointing to depth or journey. The compositions themselves are an exercise in tame, shallow water-treading, languid skulk interjected with the odd chiming majestic pause amounts to an undefined and mushy soundtrack experience.
Much was made of Wunder supposedly placing his personality backseat to let the music do the talking. Yet, perhaps we need a bit more Wunder? Contrary to allowing his work to “carve out a unique and distinct space as an artist” free of ego, Daybreak feels bereft of any particular style or character that his coasting easy listening score seriously needs.
Unfortunately, Daybreak isn’t library music presented vividly to the fore as intended, but simply flaunts itself like a polished, reworked take on old KPM stock scores to illustrate gaudy drawings of nature on its faded, vintage record cover over any profound immersion in Earth’s arresting, morning power.
Saving grace: ‘Scenic Byway’- manages to orchestrate a genuinely thrilling layer of winding strings that’s as close as Daybreak gets to nature’s stirring awe.
For fans of: 1970s package holidays.
A concluding comment from the manager at Switzerland’s St Moritz resort: “Would you rather Laurie Johnson’s ‘Happy Go Lively’ with your prawn sandwiches?”
Release date: September 26th, 2025 | Producer: Joel Danell | Label: Piano Piano Records
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