The art of improvisation has been one of the staples of jazz music. It is the feeling of the moment that many musicians have tapped into releasing a sound that often times have resulted in something spiritual. Whilst these days music tends to be overly structured and glistening with sonic perfection, Swiss band UFO have challenged the idea of conventionalism with their new album III.
Inviting five guests musicians which included Martin Wyss, Fred Frith, Raphael RosseĢ, Jannik Giger and Adrien Guerne, to each partake in an improv session, the recordings were then handed over to artists Dimitri Grimm, Valentin Liechti, Lukas Huber, Jannik Giger, Robert Torche and Michael Anklin to create new cuts. Taking it a step further, Dimitri Grimm finally edited and sequenced the tracks with the album resulting in an alchemy of otherworldly sonics that pushes the boundaries of modern music whilst incorporating the free spirit of jazz musicians of the past.
Comprised of ten songs, each track seamlessly flows into the next creating a cohesiveness that plays out like an audible story where one’s own imagination creates the board. Moments of a haunting soundscape coexist with ritualistic electronic deconstructions, sparking a line between the chaotic and the blissful, roping together the experimental and a communal experience. III is a bold and avant-garde recording that gloriously embraces the idea of freedom, letting the art fly where it may.
III is out now via A Tree In A Field Records.