Der Finger - Le Cinque Stagioni
Since 2012, Russian-bred Der Finger has been exploring the boundaries between avant-garde jazz and psychedelic improvisations. After their debut EP was released back in 2012, Le Cinque Stagioni is then their newestfull-length album (Released the 13th of January 2019 on Toten Schwan Records). Limited to 100 physical CD copies (Really cool digipack!) and being way over 70 minutes in total. Many more digital releases to be found on their Bandcamp site!
I am not an expert in free jazz. I have tried several times to understand it's often challenging and expressive sound but as it is... I often end up wondering which ear I should use when hearing it, and I often sadly end up with no answer. It´s very expressive and abstract at the same time. It can be evocative exotic at times, and very hectic chaotic the next. Keeps me getting back to some of the nightmarish visions from Burrough´s ´Naked Lunch´, or even some of the paintings done by H.R Giger. Free jazz is not something u can hear every day, but something which u should try to put on with a free and open mind (And when you are in the mood for it). Der Finger merges ritualistic and evocative landscapes of sound with the nerve-breaking potions of free-jazz.
A very urban-abstract and cosmic-horror experience, think John Coltrane reading Lovecraft while having Throbbing Gristle being in the background on some stereo! All of this has been squeezed onto this 5-track disc.
The quality of the recording is superb, not too polished and not too raw either... just a really perfect recording. Almost sounding like a really good live-recording (Excellent dynamics). We are talking about an album which can divide the sea! If you are not a fan of free-jazz, u might wanna give it a good listen before investing in it (Because of the saxophones being very upfront in the sound). Are in need of another manic fix of free-jazz (Like Painkiller/John Zorn) then u have to check this out!
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