PRE-ORDER - 04/11/2025 Release Date
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Description
Julia Hülsmann's quartet resurfaces with a fresh Norwegian voice on horn in tow and presents an attractive batch of originals that finds the group thoughtfully exploring common ground with a knack for adventure. When saxophonist Uli Kempendorff first joined Julia's trio on 2019's Not Far from Here, a new sense of expressionist urgency was introduced to the band's interplay – a sense that is amplified and expanded upon through the addition of Norwegian trumpeter Hildegunn Øiseth here, who joins the quartet on five cuts.
Praising the quartet's seamless chemistry in a review of their last record The Next Door, The Arts Desk spoke of how "the feeling that this group has progressed and can now find all kinds of different ways to create a convincing flow and narrative, is palpable." This holds just as true for Under the Surface, yet at the same time new atmospheres are broached and modes of melodic interaction established in interplay with Øiseth's idiosyncratic tone.
Julia has previously played and recorded with the trumpeter as part of Sarah Chaksad's Large Ensemble, though their collaborative spirit really caught fire when Hildegunn joined the pianist's quartet at a concert in Berlin in the summer of 2023 – "that's when we decided to make a record together," says Julia. "At this point, we've toured extensively as a quartet and have developed a very sturdy footing, which is surely at least partially responsible for sparking the idea to add another new voice into the mix. Since we've already established our particular group sound over the past years, we didn't have to start from scratch when inviting Hildegunn to join in. She was immediately a great fit. And I already knew what she sounds like, what she does musically, especially live, meaning that I had a rough idea of how and where she would make sense in our ensemble sound before we went into the studio."
Format / LP
Released / 04/11/2025
Catalogue / ECMLP-2837
Barcode / 602475453017
Artist / Julia Hulsmann
Label / Ecm Records
Genre / Jazz