Daybreak

Having previously produced records steeped in Turkish psychedelia (2019’s Doğu Çiçekleri), Japanese jazz (Wabi Sabi, 2020) and Italian library music (Natura Morta in 2021), Stockholm producer and crate digger Sven Wunder, aka Joel Danell, turned his composing and arranging skills toward the lush, cinematic sounds of David Axelrod, John Barry and Ennio Morricone. Given Danell’s meticulous attention to detail, the warm analogue glow of the recordings, and the fulsome splendour of the strings (performed by the Stockholm Studio Orchestra and conducted by Erik Arvinder), it’s hard to believe Daybreak isn’t some long-lost gem from the turn of the 70s.

Regardless of when it was recorded, it’s impossible not to drift away within the lolloping grooves and shimmering orchestral majesty captured on the likes of “Turning Tides” or the beatific title track. In this context, Danell’s stage name seems bang on the money.