Artist: Lars Fiil Quartet
Label: Self-released
Release: 2010
Length: 53:44
Rating: 4.4/5
Music is like fashion. It’s always hunting for original solutions across a huge palette of undiscovered patterns, colors, possible combinations, etc. When you run out of logical solutions, you throw together a pile of the most incompatible things imaginable, and the result is, more often than not, excellent, and suddenly you’re a fashion genius. When that doesn’t work, you leaf through some ’80s “yearbooks” and pitch your thing as retro. With a touch of the modern, naturally. And it takes off again. Music undeniably uses all the same tricks. Dress yourself in the right combination of sounds, rhythm, colors and length, and you’ll simply stand out from the rest. Luckily not the way you’d stand out if you just flung the elements together at random. Which, thank God, isn’t the case this time. Well, at least not most of the time.
The young Danish outfit Lars Fiil Quartet has been driving the modernization of jazz across the Scandinavian corners of the world for four years now. A fairly classic mosaic of piano, saxophone, drums and double bass is always after a fresh approach, which the musicians easily pair with a frankly unbelievably mature vision of modern jazz. Youth shows exactly where it should: in an approach that’s the driving force of today, when it’s hard to find a different and original path. If they still occasionally pull on one green and one pink sock that aren’t even the same size, that’s just a charming slip born of inexperience. On their album “Reconsideration”, which we can file under progressive jazz, you’ll find a very wide spectrum of jazz viewpoints, a real rainbow of approaches, from ballads through headbanging fast-tempo jazz to proper acoustic jazz fusion works of art.
“Reconsideration” is the band’s first full-length album, with eight seconds of silence in between and 53 minutes of musical over-excellence in total. As mentioned, Lars Fiil and his chosen ones come across as extremely diverse and adaptable musicians who, at just twenty, already see through the veil of musical transcendence and deliver jazz in their own distinctive way. With a good dose of ambient, a somewhat smaller dose of dark, and ballads, they play an excellent counterpoint to the crazier fusion and upbeat tracks. The absolute winner of the record is definitely “The Opener”, the second track, which introduces itself with an insanely good experimental-fusion approach and keeps unveiling the band’s character for a full seven minutes, after which the listener spends the whole rest of the album waiting for it to start over so they can spin the track once more. That’s a bit unfair, admittedly, since the rest of the album is just as fantastic, but the fact is that “The Opener” is a real modern jazz fusion masterpiece. It’s not the kind you might expect, either, because the band coaxes “fashion”, color and sound, and just the right combination of notes, out of acoustic instruments, something most of those fusionists who stay faithful to electric sounds will never reach.
With their debut, Lars Fiil Quartet have already knocked down the barriers a musician meets on the creative road. They’ve found their sound, shown their true character, and their musicianship can only go up from here. With experience there’ll be even more excellence, and until then “Recosinderation” will be more than enough. If I concluded that hardly anyone matches the Scandinavians in jazz these days, I’d rudely steer readers away from the right conclusion, so I’ll write instead that hardly anyone can match Lars Fiil Quartet these days.
Music is like fashion. It is always on a lookout for innovative solutions amongst a pallet of undiscovered forms, colours, combinations etc. When you are out of logical solutions, you throw together a whole lot of the most incompatible things and the result will actually be in most cases great and your name will be changed to a fashion genius. When that does not help, you go through some of the yearbooks from the 80’s and go retro. With a touch of the modern, of course. And you are spot on once again. And all of these touches and flourishes are actively used in music, too. If you are wearing the right combination of sounds, rhythm, colours and length, then you will most definitely stand out. Luckily, not in that sense when you randomly put things together. Which, thankfully, is not the case here. Well, at least not for the most time.
The young Danish group Lars Fiil Quartet has been driving the modernization of jazz forward for about four years now. The classic mosaic of piano, saxophone, drums and double bass is always looking to being fresh, which is easily combined with their unbelievably mature vision of modern jazz. Their youth comes out exactly where it has to – in their approach, which is what matters today when it is hard to be different and unique. Even though they occasionally still put on one green and one pink sock, which are not even the same size, we hear it only as a lovely slip of band’s inexperience. On their album “Reconsideration”, which can be tagged as one of the progressive jazz genre, there is to find a whole spectre of numerous jazz variants, a true rainbow of approaches from ballads over head-banging up-beat jazz to real acoustic jazz fusion work of art.
“Reconsideration” is Lars Fiil’s Quartet’s first full length album, which consists of eight seconds of silences and all-together of 53 minutes of music perfection. As mentioned, Lars Fiil and his companions are best acknowledged by their extreme variability and diversity and despite their youth, they are already able to see through the veil of music’ transcendence, with which they are able to present jazz in a really unique way. With a great deal of ambient, with dark being in smaller doses, and ballads they excellently put a “kontrapunkt” to the crazier fusion and up-beat tracks. The absolute winner of the album is definitely “The Opener”, the second track, which presents itself with exceptionally good experimental-fusion approach, which discloses the band’s true identity and character. “The Opener” is therefore a true modern jazz fusion classic and bearing in mind that it is done acoustically even enlarges the value of the track.
Lars Fiil Quarter have overcome all the barriers with their debut, where most of musicians are still struggling to find themselves. The band discovered their true sound and identity and therefore their musicianship can only go upwards. Greatness will be even bigger once the experience kicks in and “Reconsideration” will be more than enough until then. If I concluded that nowadays, Scandinavians’ ability to create jazz music cannot be met by other European artists, I would be turning the readers from the point – therefore I will write that nowadays, Lars Fiil Quartet’s ability to create jazz can be hardly met.
Line-up
Lars Fiil – piano
Lis Kruse – saxophone
Jens Mikkel Madsen – double bass
Andreas Skamby – drums
Production
Thomas Vang
Tracklist
1. Reconsideration
2. The Opener
3. Wholetonetonehole
4. After…
5. Let Go
6. Xenophobiaphobia
7. Ghost Town
8. Overload
9. Lost or Found?
