All that…
A More Intricate Musical Crossword Puzzle
By Niels Christensen
Releases spearheaded by composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kristoffer Rosing-Schouw are always meticulously crafted and worth listening to, but often also challenging. This is certainly true of this second release from the musical collective The Counterfictionals—a diverse group of musicians, all rooted in contemporary jazz-oriented music. This is not music that leans on previous genres. Rather, the music we think we know is written on a board, some “words, syllables, and sequences” are replaced with others, so the final result turns out completely different from what we expect. Quirky and challenging, but never boring.
The inspirations for this group’s second release are (apparently) drawn from films and authors from the decidedly offbeat end of the spectrum: Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, James Joyce, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen brothers. Occasionally, small sequences can be heard that may—or may not—come from the films or books, but we are constantly unsure of what is happening, what will happen next, and whether it even connects with what we expect to hear. The music is, therefore, a musical crossword puzzle of the more intricate kind, as it always is when Kristoffer Rosing-Schouw is at the helm. But regardless, it is music that fascinates. Music that demands attention. Music unlike anything else on today’s Danish scene. And above all, music that is entirely personal.
No musician or contributor can or should be highlighted over the others. It is the collective whole that creates this unique release, which also engages the brain; how on earth did Rosing-Schouw draw these inspirations from the films, and how did he set his own music to them? His mind operates in a world entirely its own.
The inner cover is a saga in itself. 100% conceived and drawn by Kristoffer Rosing-Schouw, down to the smallest detail. Explore the illustrated map of the recording space. There is enough detail to spend hours appreciating it.
All in all, an extraordinary release from one of the great personalities of Danish music.
All About Jazz
Any hardcore film buff will tell you that plot is not really what is important—or as the estimable critic Roger Ebert often said, the thing is "not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." This is a lesson Kristoffer Rosing-Schow and The Counterfictionals have indeed taken to heart. Their pieces are mostly modeled after inspirations from the world of cinema, but those specific sources are only jumping-off spots. The point of each piece is not which particular film or scene it might be themed around, but how they evoke the encompassing mood and emotional heart behind it.
In the steps of the kaleidoscopic No Hay Banda (Good Music, 2019), the sextet again spins a series of bewitching somber-jazz noirs, although this outing leans impressionistic rather than being specifically referential. For example, the concept behind the opening track is a hypothetical movie that has never been made. It weaves a ghostly rainy-day melodrama with theremin, lightly sweeping strings and out-of-phase guitar under a freeform snippet of James Joyce, and the experience comes out no less immersive for the source being (well) fictional. It is perfectly easy to imagine this whole collection as a mini-series of tapes that were made for some golden-age arthouse project and lost behind a dusty wooden crate in the editing suite.
Like countless scores out there, An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions is packed with a palette of tones well beyond basic piano, guitars and reeds. The tension of a tragic Quentin Tarantino love/non-love story is portrayed in a dirge with mournful clarinet and a little melodica adding a tinge of Ennio Morricone-esque drama. For a portrait of Being John Malkovich's main characters feeling lost and adrift, a central piano line walks along while its surroundings gradually get less strange, drifting from unsettled chimes to calmer flute and sax (even though an ethereal theremin wave still hangs in to the end). The emotions here might not turn out to always be so gentle after all, although a beautiful and mostly-soothing gypsy tango based around one of the prettiest love stories of the '90s (if not all time) is reassuring enough to show that the album's title mostly fits.
If Encyclopedia is missing anything from the band's debut, it would be the occasional dose of levity. That heartwarming love song aside, the album consistently stays haunting and gloomy—not for the sake of obvious drama, but to face these often-bittersweet themes with the honesty they deserve. When things close with a trance-like homage to two masters of the eerie, the band treats the real as a key to the unreal, showing that a well-built mood piece can make simple clarinet and strings sound as mysterious as any electronic gimmick out there. At tidy LP length, this is a work that feels over surprisingly soon, yet—as with so many of the best-crafted films—it is packed with detail and with many surprising layers to discover.
mMusic
http://www.mmusic.es/2025/09/the-counterfictionals-incomplete.html
Some time ago, I told you about The Counterfictionals. Back then, I described a jewel in every sense of the word. I spoke of their presentation, their musical content, and their visual, artistic, creative expression. Their music, the vinyl prints, the stories being told… holding that album in your hands was not only a musical pleasure but also an artistic experience in almost every sense of the word.
And now, years later, their new creation An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions falls into my hands. A musical, creative, and daring wonder, once again combining music with imagery, storytelling, poetry, and art.
The sextet from Copenhagen presents five compositions, which together do not last forty minutes, but are enough to move us and completely immerse us in their cinematic and artistic universe. Each song is inspired by a film scene that resonates with the band for one reason or another.
“Poems and Rain”, lasting over eight minutes, is inspired by a scene in Joyce in Paris, about the poetic longing of youth, with Timothée Chalamet as the young James Joyce and Tilda Swinton as the Rain God…
“Norm Gunderson’s 3-Cent Stamp” comes from the Coen brothers’ film Fargo. The beautiful scene between Marge and Norm… you simply must see it…
“Beatrix and Bill” is the scene in Tarantino’s Kill Bill where Beatrix does not yet hate Bill. She loves what can hurt her – and it will…
“Puppet”, from Being John Malkovich. The puppet with no control over its own life…
“The White Lodge” blends the Cthulhu myth with David Lynch’s Twin Peaks universe. Something immense and beyond our reach…
In short, an album that – like the previous one – immerses us in its own fantastic, cinematic, artistic, and creative universe, with touches of jazz, cinema, illustrations, imagery, art, sounds, and a completely unique feeling if you experience it all at once.
An indispensable album, which will not receive the attention it deserves, but holding it in your hands while listening, enjoying, and letting yourself be absorbed by it leads to a singular experience.
At mMusic, it will take its place in our record of the best albums of 2025. If not the very best… Remember this… The Counterfictionals…
Miguel Angel Velez Borraz
Salt Peanuts
The Counterfictionals are a Danish sextet devoted to the world of cinema. The group’s mastermind and composer, Kristoffer Rosing-Schouw, has a particular fondness for fiction as expressed in film. An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions is the group’s sophomore album, following the artistic success of their debut No hay banda, which drew inspiration from filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Terry Gilliam, Alan Parker, Luc Besson, and David Lynch—a fountain of expression that reflected in the music’s diversity.
On the new album, listeners are likewise confronted with surf, South American rhythms, indie rock, dusty nocturnal jazz, cabaret—name it—all blended into a delightful mix. This is further enhanced by the wealth of instruments employed. The starting point is the films, actors, and directors that inspired Rosing-Schouw. In “Poems and Rain”, we witness an imaginary film with Timothée Chalamet as a young James Joyce and Tilda Swinton. Youthful poetic longing is accompanied by David Kerns’ narration and a melancholy saxophone that builds toward a slow crescendo with wordless singing and distant romance.
In “Norm Anderson’s 3-Cent Stamp”, a tribute to Fargo, a love scene between Marge and Norm unfolds, where the theremin flows legato over a theme that develops almost like folk music with Latin American undertones. Are we in García Márquez territory? “Beatrix and Bill” draws its theme from Tarantino at the intersection of love and murder. Surf-like elements, Maja Romm’s twangy guitar, and Rosing-Schouw’s melodica recall the music of Ennio Morricone.
In the irresistible “Puppet”, we dive into the universe of Being John Malkovich, exploring the unsettling feeling of losing control over one’s life. Musically, the melody gradually grows in a manner reminiscent of how Radiohead might have expressed it.
The closing track, “The White Lodge”, is inspired by both H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. A magical soundscape with trembling strings and a wide-angle sense, where mystique and poetry merge into a wonderful album.
—Allan Sommer
Jazzjournal, UK
The Counterfictionals are a group of Danish musicians who produce original music inspired by cinema. The intention is to create a mood or emotional collage that sits within the general context of the film, or from a specific sequence. In this respect it’s successful, with music that is attractive and atmospheric, at moments slightly unnerving. Tension is built through implication rather than anything obvious.
The opener, Poems And Rain, is the theme for a hypothetical film never made. It’s simple at first, initially featuring bassist Tove Sørensen and the clarinet of Jeppe Zacho; then layers of texture are gradually built as other instruments are introduced. The barely discernible narration by David Kerns is taken from James Joyce’s Ulysses, a description of early morning Paris, as “Belluomo rises from the bed of his wife’s lover’s wife.”
The Coen Brothers’ Fargo is the inspiration for Norm Gunderson’s 3-Cent Stamp, the touching scene concerning Norm’s painting of a mallard used on a stamp. Of course, there’s a metaphor involved here regarding relativity and the importance of small things. The music draws on several stylistic strands, from the African feel of rhythmic guitar and kalimba, to the central section of Henriette Groth’s piano and Zacho’s schmaltzy tenor, ending with the clarinet taking it into klezmer territory. All very effective.
Beatrix And Bill are presumably the protagonists in Tarantino’s Kill Bill; Beatrix the main character, “The Bride”. A Morricone atmosphere is created by the guitar, twangy with resonant low bass notes thrown in. Melodica, vibes and theramin alternate, and again clarinet, although it’s the tenor that gives more definition and depth, as it does elsewhere, grounding the metaphysical elements, nailing it down.
This segues into Puppet, about loss of control in Being John Malkovich. Groth’s piano sets a repetitive theme supported by the theramin, its eerie echo reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s music for Twin Peaks. Zacho’s more expansive and aggressive contribution appears towards the end. Similarly, the TV series is the inspiration for The White Lodge, as is H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu – the haunting music reflecting mystery, the supernatural and even paranoia.
Some might regard the references to cult movies and obscure literary passages as esoteric and even pretentious, but I found it engaging and fascinating.
Matthew Wright
Link to mMuisc review - in spanish
NETTAVISEN.NO, Tor Hammerö
Med sitt debutalbum har det danske bandet The Counterfictionals laga en hyllest til ti filmer med masse flott musikk og strålende illustrasjoner servert i en svart boks som skiller seg ut fra det meste.
03.06.19 19:01
Jeg bryter sammen, om ikke i krampegråt, så i alle fall i lett hulken og innrømmer at jeg aldri har hørt om verken The Counterfictionals eller bandets leder og komponist, saksofonisten, og mye mer, Kristoffer Rosing-Schow. Møtet har derfor blitt av det overraskende og ikke minst særdeles hyggelige slaget.
Rosing-Schow (47) viser seg å være en svært så allsidig og kreativ herre. Det viktigste i denne sammenhengen er at han er en meget dyktig komponist. Med sin store interesse for film, har han latt seg inspirere av blant andre David Lynchs «Mulholland Drive», westernklassikeren «For en neve dollar mer», Luc Bessons «Subway» og «The Big Blue» og Lars von Triers «AntiChrist».
Ikke bare har han latt seg inspirere til å skrive vakker og original musikk som er spilt inn live med publikum til stede i studioet The Village i København, men han har også laga ti flotte illustrasjoner og skrevet ti små historier på baksiden av illustrasjonene som forteller oss historiene bak filmene.
Sammen med Henriette Groth på bratsj, klarinett og diverse, Bjørn Heebøll på trommer, vibrafon og diverse, Maja Romm på gitar, Tove Sørensen på basser og Jeppe Zacho på tenorsaksofon, klarinetter og bongos, har Rosing-Schow, som spiller både saksofoner, klarinetter, det egenskapte instrumentet hydrofonium og mye, mye mer, skapt et eget lite melodisk univers som det er spennende å dukke ned i og skape sine egne «filmer» ut i fra.
Sju gjestemusikere bidrar også på fint vis, ikke minst vokalisten Katrine Krog Russo på et av spora, og til sammen har de ti låtene og de ti maleriene/illustrasjonene blitt noe helt spesielt og ikke minst vakkert. Overraskende, flott og helt unikt - det holder ei god stund det.
Tor Hammrö, nettavisen.no
PS Dessuten synes jeg Trump bør avsettes så snart som mulig.
Jazzspecial, Niels Christensen