Joel Lyssarides: Late on Earth

For Swedish pianist Joel Lyssarides, substance and depth always take precedence over flashy concepts, emotion and expression over mere virtuosity. Making music, he says, is like searching for grains of sand in the desert — a continuous journey of many small steps. His music thrives on detail: the finest nuances, subtle shifts in harmony, groove and dynamics. And on a distinctive piano sound — crystal clear, yet never sharp. The fact that Lyssarides’ music has now surpassed 100 million streams shows that this quiet intensity resonates with audiences around the world. Lyssarides belongs to a generation of European jazz musicians who left stylistic boundaries behind long ago. He is a sought-after collaborator – currently as a pianist alongside Nils Landgren, as part of the e.s.t. tribute project with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström, and also as a composer for pop productions and video game music. Yet the piano trio remains at the heart of his work. It is the formation in which his musical universe unfolds most directly. Joel Lyssarides’ new album Late on Earth has been developed in an unusually long and intensive process. Over more than four years, the music has developed in close exchange with producer Andreas Brandis – a creative dialogue that encouraged Lyssarides to explore new paths. “It was almost therapeutic. On the one hand Andreas knows what makes me tick, and what I can do musically, but I also shared many of my doubts with him. In the end we decided everything together: the choice of the line-up, the studio – in this case the legendary Bauer Studios – the songs, the final takes. That helped me enormously, and I think I’ve never captured who I am and what I feel as honestly as this on a recording.” And there’s also a thought that makes him smile: “For the first time, I even have pieces on an album in a major key!” One important reason for the music’s emotional depth was Brandis encouraging Lyssarides to take more risks and to let go of the idea of perfection. “Especially at a time when music is increasingly digitally polished or even entirely generated by AI, Andreas was interested in the total opposite: the human element. In the end it’s often the small imperfections that make music come alive – music arises from immediate experience capturing the search for who you are, for your sound, your expression.” Joel Lyssarides’ music arises from immediate experience, rather than from any attempt to follow a conceptual agenda. “I sit down at the piano, feel something — and play, often for hours.” Many of the pieces on Late on Earth grew out of such moments: from sleeplessness, from love, from fleeting thoughts or small observations. For Lyssarides, it is a great joy when these small moments find their way out into the world and begin a life of their own. Sometimes this can feel almost surreal, as he describes: “Recently a pianist sent me his version of one of my pieces and wrote how much it meant to him. And I thought: wait a second – I wrote that tune 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 a profound emotional clarity.