IKARUS (CH)
Um viðburðinn
Athugið! Kvöldpassi er í boði öll kvöld hátíðarinnar í Hörpu en hann veitir aðgang að öllum tónleikum viðkomandi kvölds. Ekki er selt inn á staka tónleika á kvölddagskrá í Hörpu.
IKARUS er módernískur/grúv/jazz kvintett sem samanstendur af Ramón Oliveras (lagasmíðar, trommur), Anna Hirsch (söngur), Andreas Lareida (söngur), Lucca Fries (píano) og Mo Meyer (kontrabassi). Einstakur hljóðheimur hljómsveitarinnar byggir á síbreytilegum pólýrytmum, flöktandi taktstílum, áreynslulausum spunastíl og hrífandi fléttu karl- og kvensöngraddar, og fær áheyrandann til að vilja standa upp og dansa með, jafnvel þótt taktheimur tónlistarinnar sé til þess fallinn að rugla í rytmaskyni útlimanna. Ikarus hefur gefið út þrjár breiðskífur hjá plötufyrirtæki Nik Bärtschs, “Ronin Rhythm Records”, og hafa þess utan túrað mjög víða í Evrópu og Japan. Hljómsveitin er hluti af svokölluðu “high priority jazz program”, verkefni hjá Swiss art council Pro Helvetia, sem þýðir að þau eru ein af flaggskipum jazztónlistarsenu yngri kynslóðarinnar í Sviss.
A surprisingly individual signature. A constantly changing mosaic of music..
– Jazzthing (DE)
Quality writing, flawless performances and a resplendently detailed production. A significant release indeed.
– Sid Smith, Prog Magazine (UK)
Fantastic, phantasmagoric, and masterful in its nonchalance, Ikarus is a complete musical experience.
– 5/5, Bud Kopman, Allaboutjazz.com (USA)
– In addition to the minimalistic yet dynamic music, these two voices create an enormous tension. It is beautiful and deeply moving.
– Klassieke Zaken (NL)
– This band is unique. It‘s great fun to listen to their music.
– Real & True (JP)
Nánar um plötuna MOSAISMIC
A curious thing happens to a band as its sound matures. As the voices of its players continue to fuse ever more seamlessly, their individual styles also come into focus with increasing clarity. In its most literal reading, this is the key idea behind MOSAISMIC, the title of the third full-length record from Swiss contemporary / groove / jazz quintet IKARUS. The word itself was created from the combination of the words: “mosaic” and “seismic”. Mosaic, of course, implies a series of independent elements, which form a pattern or a picture. Seismic, on the other hand, denotes the energy expressed in the form of vibration, which is released by the movement, collision or friction of landmasses.
When every musicians ideas are expressed clearly, and the ear zooms away from the individual pieces, something bigger and more beautiful emerges. At times our opinions clash like tectonic plates and this produces something of a productive earthquake. The energy released then is also registered on the recordings, which definitely reverberates in the listener. – Ramón Oliveras
MOSAISMIC is a record of beautiful contrasts. It’s minimal and austere formally, yet rhapsodic in affect. It invokes organic forms and then juxtaposes them with percussive renditions of angular spaces as elicited by a modern, urban, architectural sprawl. It’s quiet and spacious, at times eruptive and dense. From a compositional point of view the songs here have a tendency towards straightforward, linear melodies – written against each other. As they evolve, they perpetually produce new harmonic and rhythmic relationships. The effect is an ever-shifting sound mosaic, a sonic mobile of sorts.
I wrote this material during my yearlong stay in Berlin. I listened to a lot of electronic music at this time and I also had the opportunity to experience it in gorgeous industrial spaces such as the Kraftwerk or Berghain. You can hear allusions to these experiences on Meridian or the new version of Sub Zero. I gave the music a finishing touch in São Paulo. The playful Brazilian architecture of Oscar Niemeyer and Lina Bo Bardi, and the constant exposure to all these local grooves definitely had an influence on some pieces, as you can hear on Mondrian, Oumuamua or the new version of Ligulin. – Ramón Oliveras
MOSAISMIC was recorded at the Fattoria Musica studio located in Osnabrück, Germany, in three very long
days, and was co-produced by Nik Bärtsch. The band arrived at the studio right after a series of concerts, hence the presence and the chemistry captured on the recordings. Those who like to soak up their music on headphones might also discover some quirky details buried in the mix: the crackling of a fireplace, the rattling of a chain placed on the strings of the piano, the use of e-bow etc.
With Ikarus, the studio recordings are more of an image of the current state of the project. If you see us playing live in a year from now, the same pieces will sound very different from what’s on the record. The idea of an ongoing evolution and the material being in constant flux became even more important for me in recent years. Sometimes I even wish that this record wouldn’t have so many new songs on it. (laughs) – Ramón Oliveras
Um hljómsveitarmeðlimi
Ramón Oliveras er margverðlaunaður (Liszt-institute Budapest verðlaun 2017, Friedl-Wald verðlaunin 2013) trommari og lagahöfundur og býr í Zürich og Berlín. Fyrir utan að einbeita sér að hljómsveit sinni, Ikarus, er hann einnig hluti af söng- og trommudúóinu JPTR. Ramón semur og spilar tónlist fyrir samtíma dansuppfærslur og vinnur við markaðssetningu hjá plötufyrirtækinu Ronin Rhythm Records. Hann lauk meistaragráðu í jazztrommuleik árið 2014 og meistaragráðu í klassískum samtímatónsmíðum 2020 frá Zurich University of Arts.
Anna Hirsch útskrifaðist árið 2018 með meistaragráðu í jazzsöng frá Basel University of Arts og býr nú í Basel. Hún syngur með sínu eigin bandi, Hila Puntur, en er einnig meðlimur dúettsins FLEEP, Kaspar Grünigen’s impro collective og tríósins Go Ask Alice. Hún stendur einnig fyrir tónleikaseríunni “Laboratorium für frei improvisierte Musik”, er meðstofnandi plötufyrirtækisins Hout Records í Basel og vinnur við Unerhört Festival. Hún hlaut verðlaun frá Friedl-Wald Foundation árið 2015.
Andreas Lareida útskrifaðist frá Bern University of Arts árið 2011 með meistaragráðu í jazzsöng og býr í Bern. Hljómsveit hans, Àgora, vinnur nú að annarri breiðskífu sinni. Hann er listrænn stjórnandi danshópsins Élionne Danse og kemur reglulega fram á söngleikjasviði Theater Rigiblick.
Lucca Fries er píanóleikari og kennari frá Wintherhur. Hann stofnaði Trance Jazz dúettinn HELY árið 2011 ásamt trommaranum Jonas Ruther. Hann hefur túrað reglulega um Sviss, Þýskaland og Rússland og túraði einnig með Pro Helvetia í Indlandi 2015. Þriðja plata hans, Borderland, kom út 2018 hjá Ronin Rhythm Records. Lucca lærði Jazz Piano Performance í Lucerne University of Art og Music Education í Zurich University of the Arts.
Moritz Meyer útskrifaðist árið 2013 frá Zurich University of the Arts með meistaragráðu í kontrabassaleik. Hann er þekktur sem fjölhæfur og virkur bassaleikari á svissnesku tónlistarsenunni og býr í Zurich. Fyrir utan að vera meðlimur Ikarus og hljómsveitarinnar Joscha Schraff Quartet, kemur hann reglulega fram með hljómsveitinni The Dubby Conquerors, sem leikur með stórum nöfnum úr svissnesku popptónlistarsenunni, eins og Dodo, Raggabund og Loco Escrito.
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