Fire! Orchestra debuts on We Jazz Records with WORDS, their new album out 22nd January, 2027. A major work of 13 tracks, WORDS sees a new Fire! Orchestra lineup building around the core founder duo of Mats Gustafsson and Johan Berthling, featuring Mariá Portugal, Sofia Jernberg, David Sandström (of Refused), Alex Zethson, Julien Desprez, Mette Rasmussen, and many more. The total strength of the current orchestra is 19 musicians, making it one of the most impactful collectives in creative music today.
WORDS, as the name suggests, is largely a vocal album by Fire! Orchestra. Starting out with “DROWNED BEAST”, borrowed from the catalog of the US band Thee Oh Sees (OCS), the album pulls no punches and shows no shortage of emotion or variation. If you need proof, just match the monumental opener with the whisper-delicate closer “PLYWE KACZA”, a stunningly beautiful Ukrainian folk melody reimagined by the band and the track’s lead vocalist Sofia Jernberg.
For the first time, a large part of the band shares composing duties, in addition to the founding duo. Mette Rasmussen, Mats Äleklint, María Portugal, and more take their place in the composer community of WORDS, while the likes of free jazz legend Joe McPhee and environmental activist Greta Thunberg habituate the lyricists’ credit sheet. It’s all a genuinely collaborative effort, which is palpable in the joy and the energy of the music. Smaller group instrumental passages in between songs give the album it’s rhythm, contributing to a grand statement in the orchestra’s ever-evolving catalog, now 8 albums deep.
Mats Gustafsson says:
"Changes are here! A new era is here for the Fire! community! A new drummer and singer, Mariá Portugal, is now working with the Fire! trio, and we're psyched about this radical and creative change leading towards new music perspectives within the heavy world of riffing with Fire! trio and Orchestra. A new 19-piece version of the Orchestra with heave focus on WORDS in all forms and matters. 12 creative female musicians and 7 men creating new radical music of noise and beauty together.
After working with Rune Grammofon for 17 years, we are now moving on to a new collaboration with We Jazz Records. New perspectives and new music finding a creative platform together! Changes are here! Personally I couldn't see a better, more creative and FUN way to continue the Fire! legacy."
Swedish author Hedvig Ljungar writes in her liner notes to the album:
”The interplay of sounds and words as expressed in the album WORDS is reminiscent of both early 20th-century surrealism and the concrete poetry of the 1960s, challenging the language of order by adding elements of disruption. Both of these movements investigated the boundaries between the signifying and the sonorous aspects of language, often including elements of “nonsense”. There are strong parallels with Fire! Orchestra’s artistic work. Through the album’s 13 tracks, the ensemble explores the uncategorizable and indefinable, while also challenging the notion of “sense”, or the voice of reason. And even though “sense” is a concept associated with those in power, Thunberg’s sampled voice repeats: ’The real power belongs to the people.’
WORDS ends with the Ukrainian folk song, “PLYWE KACZA”. The lyrics depict a dialogue between a mother and her son before he leaves to fight in the war, and have served as a symbol of the soldiers killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An echo of Thunberg’s voice cuts through Sofia Jernberg’s as it rings out, shifts, and cracks. Her voice becomes that of everyone.
What impact can art possibly have? What power does a voice hold? By pushing back against reality while simultaneously creating space for escapism and imagination, Fire! Orchestra generates a particular kind of knowledge, which cannot be attained in any other way than through the ensemble’s distinctive vocabulary. This kind of knowledge holds a fundamental possibility: to experience time and space in ways different from those that, in our quotidian life, seem to be the only ones available. That is WORDS. This is Fire! Orchestra.”
WORDS is released by We Jazz Records on 22nd January 2027 as ”Fire! Marbled” and black double gatefold vinyl editions, and on CD. Both physical editions come with full credits and liner notes by Hedvig Ljungar.
Composed by: "DROWNED BEAST" (Thee Oh Sees) "WORDS" (Mats Gustafsson, words Joe McPhee) "TONADA de Luna Llena/Coisa N.o 8" (Simón Díaz/Moacir Santos, arr Mariá Portugal) "words of susana" (Susana Santos Silva) "words of string quartet" (Johan Berthling, Anna Lindal, Anna Neubert, Emily Wittbrodt) "SLUG" (Johan Berthling, Mats Äleklint) "RHINO" (Johan Berthling, Mats Äleklint, words Mats Äleklint) "CHANGE" (Mette Rasmusen, words Greta Thunberg) "OVERGROWN" (James Blake, arr Julien Desprez) "words of maria, mariam and mats" (Mariá Portugal, Mariam Rezaei, Mats Gustafsson) "words of heida" (Heida Karine Johannesdottir) "RHYTHMS AND SLIDES" (Anna Lindal) "PLYWE KACZA" (trad., arr Sofia Jernberg, Anna Lindal)
Sample of Greta Thunberg used by permission.
Sofia Jernberg, vocals
David Sandström, vocals
Mariá Portugal, vocals and drums
Anna Lindal, violin, string arrangements
Anna Neubert, violin
Emily Wittbrodt, cello
Adia Vanheerentals, tenor sax and soprano sax
Mats Gustafsson, baritone sax, flute and conduction
Mette Rasmussen, baritone sax and alto sax
Anna Högberg, baritone sax and alto sax
Susana Santos Silva, trumpet
Lina Allemano, trumpet
Mats Äleklint, trombone, horn and string arrangements
Heida Karine Mobeck Johannesdottir, tuba
Julien Desprez, guitar and vocals
Alex Zethson, piano and keyboards
Mariam Rezaei, turntables
Johan Berthling, electric and acoustic bass
Mads Forsby, drums
Mikael Werliin, sound
Recorded Jan 13-15th 2026 at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm by Niclas Lindström, assisted by Mikael Werliin and Calle Gustavsson. Mixed at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm by Niclas Lindström, assisted by Johan Berthling Mastered by Lupo, Berlin Original photo by Lars Tunbjörk, Stockbroker, Tokyo 1999 Design by Matti Nives Liner notes by Hedvig Ljungar Produced by Berthling and Gustafsson Executive producer: Matti Nives
Fire! Orchestra is like a forever evolving organism. 2025 will see a new version of the band, playing the new program WORDS.
Line-up:
Sofia Jernberg (vocals);
David Sandström (vocals and drums);
Anna Lindal (violin and string arrangements);
Anna Neubert (violin);
Emily Wittbrodt (cello);
Mats Gustafsson (baritone sax, live electronics and conduction);
Mette Rasmussen (baritone and alto sax);
Anna Högberg (baritone and alto sax);
Adia Vanheerentals (tenor and soprano sax);
Mats Äleklint (trombone and horn arrangements);
Heida Karine Johannesdottir (tuba and electronics);
Susana Santos Silva (trumpet);
Lina Allemano (trumpet);
Julien Desprez (guitar and vocals);
Alexander Zethson (piano and keyboards);
Mariam Rezaei (turntables and electronics);
Johan Berthling (bass);
Mads Forsby (drums);
Maria Portugal (drums and vocals);
Mikael Werliin (sound).
Brutal heaviness, furiously fast crack, intense groove, extreme dynamics, immense beauty. (…) in a concert with Fire Orchestra, everything can be found, not infrequently all in one and the same song. (…) It is, as always, incredibly impressive. (Rasmus Klockljung, Lira)
