Wollny & Parisien & Lefebvre & Lillinger - XXXX [LP]

Format: LP 
Catalogue No.: ACTLP9924-1
Barcode: 0614427992413
Release Date: 30th April 2021
Genre: Jazz

 All music improvised by Michael Wollny, Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre and Christian Lillinger (except ‘Nostalgia for the Light’, written and arranged by Michael Wollny).
 The music we hear doesn’t fit into any category. We’re in uncharted territory, so a good way to capture its essence might be to break it down into its four component parts. First there’s Michael Wollny, here for the very first time playing only on electronic keyboard instruments. He creates a characterful world of retro-futuristic sounds that is very much his own. We find the occasional nod to early Jean-Michel Jarre, references to science fiction and horror movies and also vivid memories of the sounds of avant-garde Krautrock: Can and Irmin Schmidt and Klaus Schulze.
 As for Tim Lefebvre, here is a musician who has plied his very great craft with stars such as David Bowie, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Mayer, Knower, Steely Dan, Elvis Costello and Wayne Krantz. Here he is like a rock in a tempestuous sea. He propels the music forward with a combination of bass and effects. He builds structures and tames unruly elements. The way he lays down a groove is overwhelming.
 As a counterbalance we find the explosive yet highly sensitive playing of drummer Christian Lillin-ger. He stacks layer upon layer of rhythms and textures.
 And the melodic lines of Emile Parisien on soprano saxophone
always have an astonishing springy inventiveness. Such is Parisien’s latent energy, it seems as if at any moment he could suddenly become airborne.
 The players’ eager curiosity as to what the next turn, the next impulse, the next push will be is palpable to the listener. One can sense the tension between the urge to construct forms, lines, grooves, harmonies, textures, versus the illicit joy of tearing such fragile structures apart before they have even been heard. There are beats and patterns from the 90s, 80s and 70s, all coalescing into cinematic bacchanalia of sound. These four master improvisers and composers all have the urge to rewrite the rules of their musical world - and to do so in real time.
 LP pressed on 180g vinyl with digital download code.

Tracklisting:
Somewhere Around
Barstow
Dick Laurent Is Dead
Too Bright in Here
Grandmother’s Hammer
The Haul
Find the Fish
Doppler FX
Michael vs. Michael
Nörvenich Lounge
Nostalgia for the Light