POLAROIDS (Elle Street Records, 2026)
out September 25th 2026
Rooted in contemporary jazz while drawing on a warm song-led harmonic language, the album explores time, memory and everyday moments through lyrical melodies, deep grooves and expressive trio interplay.
The inspiration for Polaroids began with an old SX-70 camera. After becoming a parent, Ingmar started photographing everyday family life with the camera, finding meaning in the way ordinary moments slowly developed into lasting memories. The album reflects on that same process: how small experiences become part of a larger story, and how music can preserve a fleeting moment while reminding us that it has already passed.
Compared with his previous releases, Polaroids takes a more stripped-back approach, allowing the melodies and interaction between musicians to remain at the centre. Many of the pieces are built around duo and trio performances with longtime collaborators Calle Rasmusson (drums) and Fredrik Jonsson (bass).
The album moves between intimate trio passages and more expansive arrangements, combining comforting folk-inspired harmony with contemporary jazz improvisation, subtle R&B influences and modern production details. Guest appearances from Jonas Knutsson on saxophones and Markus Ahlberg on trombone introduce additional colours, with processed trombone textures expanding the trio’s core sound. Across the album, Ingmar balances cinematic atmosphere with a direct, human approach built around melody, space and emotional connection.
Several pieces reflect specific places and memories from Ingmar’s life. “Bjurtjärn” takes its name from the village in the forests of Värmland where his family has spent generations, while “June” captures the atmosphere of early Swedish summer. The closing title track returns to the album’s central idea: the relationship between memory, photography and music, and the way both can hold onto moments that are already disappearing.
Polaroids marks the launch of the independent label Elle Street Records
CLOUDLANDS
solo piano - single
Released March 2025.
Improvisation embedded in a blanket of synths
HOMECOMING
solo piano - single
Released December 2023. Resonating the feeling of driving home for Christmas, or anytime when you are longing home.
PLEIADES (Prophone/Naxos, 2023)
VINYL/CD
In January 2023, the EP "Vinterstjärnor" (Stars of Winter) was launched. The second part, "Sommarstjärnor", followed in October. The stargazing year culminates in the full-length album "Pleiades”, available on vinyl, CD, and digital platforms November 17th. This is the long-awaited second album from Swedish jazz pianist Emil Ingmar, building on the critically acclaimed debut album from 2020.
Produced by Calle Rasmusson and Emil Ingmar
At a yard sale back home in Värmland, Sweden, I came across this beautiful book from 1902 about stargazing: “Astronomy with an Opera-Glass.”
The author, G.P. Serviss, had divided the book into the 'Stars of Spring,' 'Stars of Summer,' 'Stars of Autumn,' and 'Stars of Winter.' I was captivated, not only by the hand-drawn maps of the constellations and the poetic language within its pages, but also by the notion that not much has changed (except maybe the opera-glass) when it comes to us looking up at the night sky.
The relationship between humans and space has always been polar: eternal and ever-changing, small and infinite, hope-filled and sad. I suppose standing on a frosty hill, gazing up at the Pleiades may have provided the same sense of awe, smallness, and wonder in me as for everyone else in the history of time.
It's that strange sensation of it being incomprehensible that captivates me. The stars of winter raise so many questions and provide almost no answers. They just exist up there, night after night, year after year, for millions of years.
And when the world is chaotic, I can find some sort of solace in the constancy of the stars.
Musicians
Emil Ingmar - piano and keyboards
Fredrik Jonsson - double bass, synth bass
Calle Rasmusson - drums, percussion, additional synths
Maria Winther - voice
Blanca Eliasson - french horn
Jonas Knutsson - soprano saxophone
Axel Mårdsjö - flutes and clarinets
Johan Christoffersson - alto saxophone and flute
Erik Tengholm - flugelhorn and trumpet
Markus Ahlberg - trombone
Recorded at Kingside Studio by Otto Wellton and at Studio 88 by Calle Rasmusson
Mixed at Unit 7 by Pål Svenre
Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Distributed by Prophone/Naxos
Våren (2022)
EP - solo piano
I went back to the studio where we recorded Karlavagnen in January 2022, exactly one month before I became a dad.
From Home, with Love (2020)
EP - Solo Piano
Short compositions and improvisations, recorded at home during corona lock down.
Karlavagnen (Prophone/Naxos, 2020)
Debut album (CD)
Swedish pianist and composer Emil Ingmar makes his debut with a soft-hearted punch in the gut. Twelve songs that reflect just as many places, memories and frames of mind. It is music from the Swedish forests, the cities and the country side. Music about longing for home, but also leaving it behind.
- It is generally said that music evokes memories, but this time I’ve let my
memories evoke the music, Ingmar says. To me, both difficult and warm
emotions are connected with places I’ve dreamt about, spent a lot of time at or just bicycled through a million times. I guess I’m very nostalgic in that way.
Each member of the stellar band, including Swedish saxophone player Jonas
Knutsson, helps to build a versatile soundscape, ranging from hip hop, folk music and jazz. The warm, acoustic foundation intertwines with electronical elements to create a dynamic full length album. The trip down memory lane reaches its peak in title track Karlavagnen (Swedish word for Big Dipper) – just as unreachable and epic as the star constellation.