TIME IS A BLIND GUIDE

Thomas Strønen’s "Time is a Blind Guide" released its first album on ECM more than ten years ago, and at the end of 2025 the band released its third album, Off Stillness, on the same label. With a lineup featuring violin, cello, double bass, and piano, Time is a Blind Guide is, strictly speaking, just a viola short of being a classical string quintet. The difference, of course, is Thomas Strønen, whose delicate drumming and warm cymbals color the music and gently pull it across the boundary into jazz. Håkon Aase steers the sound further toward something reminiscent of folk melodies and the Hardanger fiddle, while Ayumi Tanaka casts glances toward contemporary classical music.