Quiet Inlet Food

• 1Tobiko07:08
• 2Chimaera05:01
• 3Mictyris05:41
• 4Becalmed07:52
• 5Cirrina06:16
• 6Dweller06:23
• 7Fathom08:39
• Total Runtime47:00

Info for Quiet Inlet

Food has defined a new kind of lyrical electro-acoustic improvisation in the course of its twelve year existence. Founded as a quartet in 1998, since 2006 the group has been a core duo of UK saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen joined by guests for diverse projects. At the Molde Jazz Festival and the Oslo Blå club in 2007 / 8 their guests were trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, well known to ECM followers, and Austrian improvising guitarist Christian Fennesz, making his label debut. The resultant music, with melodic improvising, trancelike pulses, and shifting clouds of sound is highly attractive.

Considering the distinct lyrical path Food has been forging since 1998, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the group would migrate into ECM territory. The guest appearance of Nils Petter Molvær is therefore a no-brainer. Fans of Molvær’s work will feel like they are slowly falling into the Norwegian trumpeter’s waking dreams. The results are an undeniably unique blend of nu jazz sensibilities and ritual melodic power.

“Tobiko” opens with metallic percussion against a cascade of synths and muted beats. A radio dial is tuned, reaching through the airwaves as if for a familiar voice to latch onto. Only then does Ballamy’s sax rise to the surface of this oceanic passage: if our ears are vessels, then here is the dolphin swimming silently alongside them. Before long, live drums make their presence known and lead us out of the fog. Having shown us the way, our guides then recede into the darkness, where light and sonar dare not venture. “Chimaera” is a gentler number. Sax lines continue their passage as percussion and electronics cocoon them with deep thematic threads, free-flowing and heavenly. “Mictyris” is distinguished by Strønen’s intense rhythmic drive, over which we encounter some fantastic electronics that sound as if a sax were being torn apart and rebuilt as a train whistle. Tight drumming, combined with the protracted ambient wash in the background, meshes wonderfully with Ballamy’s constellate reed work. “Becalmed” builds itself around a repetitive leads motif, its aftereffects ever ghostly and omnipresent. Whether intentional or not, this track also contains oblique references to Eleni Karaindrou’s “Parade” from the film Happy Homecoming, Comrade. “Cirrina” and “Dweller” both flow with Molvaer’s distinct sound, seeming to revel in their grace and liberation from formulaic constraints, while “Fathom” ends the album bittersweetly, as if the music were looking into a mirror, unsure of what it sees.

The electro-acoustic sound honed on Quiet Inlet works wonders at every turn. And on that note, it’s inspiring to see a wonderful artist like Fennesz crossing over into the ECM circuit. Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come.

"On the introspective Becalmed, the pair enter into a fascinating dialogue, both players stepping out in turn at first, then echoing each other’s lines in the second half of the piece. Fennesz remains a more discreet presence on the three tracks he is featured on, his often visceral live noise processing kept well under wrapped here as he favours instead discreet brushes of treated guitars on Mictyris and Fathom, creating wonderfully ethereal moments, especially on the latter, and adds fragments of gritty electronics on album opener Tobiko, which is swept by a powerful wind in its later part, growing increasingly cold and piercing as Strønen’s drumming becomes more defined and assertive." (themilkfactory)

"A disc full of rich textures and colours and with a unique blend of electronic and acoustic sounds." (thejazzmann)

"The blend of guitar and electronics is what provides much of Quiet Inlet‘s serene atmosphere, giving Ballamy and Molvaer plenty of opportunities to turn their improvisations into slow and deliberate-sounding conversations. Their interplay on pieces such as “Becalmed” is at once creepy and marvelous." (popmatters)

"Food, as they themselves comment, play affecting, stirring music ranging 'from minimalist to very turbulent', and on this seven-track album they utilise a wide array of textures and timbres, as well as all grades of dynamic variation, to produce music of startling beauty and subtle power." (vortexjazz)

"As fundamental as Ballamy lyricism is—even in the most foreboding spaces—it's Strønen who provides much of Food's sonic direction. Strønen's unique sense of time, space and placement has become Food's true core, his increasingly sophisticated, electro-acoustic mélange effortlessly propelling Quiet Inlet's eminently appealing impressionism." (allaboutjazz)

Thomas Strønen, drums, live electronics
Iain Ballamy, tenor and soprano saxophones
Nils Petter Molvær, trumpet and electronics (on tracks 2, 4-6)
Christian Fennesz, guitar and electronics (on tracks 1, 3, 7)

Recorded live in Norway, 2007/08
Produced by Food and Manfred Eicher

FOOD
is highlighting the delicate balance between Ballamy’s melodic and lyrical playing and the electronic soundscapes and grooves from Strønen. Food plays as duo as well as with invited guests.

Food is curently working on a new record for ECM Records together with Christian Fennesz.

The studio recording will take Food to a new musical space, working with sound- master Ulf Holand (A- ha, Satyricon, David Bowie) and making more stuctured groove oriented compositions. The result will be out on both vinyl as well as cd and download.

Food is highlighting the delicate balance between Ballamy’s melodic and lyrical playing and the electronic soundscapes and grooves from Strønen.

Food plays as duo as well as with invited guests. Guests appearing with Food lately have been Christian Fennesz (AU), Nils Petter Molvær, Morten Quenild, Prakash Sontakke (In), Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang.

Booklet for Quiet Inlet