European improvising supergroup erases distinctions between jazz, electronics, and ambient/soundscape approaches.

This one-off European improvising supergroup makes captivating music that erases distinctions between jazz, electronics, and ambient/soundscape approaches. Arve Henriksen is acclaimed for his unique vocalized trumpet work in the Norwegian ambient/noise group Supersilent. Adding Lars Juul's jazz-inflected drumming, Benoît Delbecq's prepared piano and Steve Argüelles' ambient loops and mutations, Poolplayers conjure a floating, hermetic beauty. 24 bit recording mixed in analogue creates an almost holographic effect in both stereo and multi-channel.

Poolplayers is another surprising manifestation of a direction in free improvised music that's distinctive but hard to define. It's more an attitude than a genre. The music being made by different groups might sound almost unrelated, but the approach to creating it has something in common. Its language might come from avant jazz, post-rock, ambient/electronica, interactive computer music, 'ethnic' music, process music, contemporary classical composed music, or almost anywhere. It's often 'slow,' on the analogy of slow food perhaps, relishing the synergy of individual flavors and the process of fine-tuning things rather than foregrounding the flash and brilliance of instant creation. It's a music of the senses that also penetrates to more obscure levels of consciousness, approaching at times dream states or ecstatic experiences. Poolplayers make music on the introverted end of this nebulous movement, exploring the interaction of live electronics and extended techniques to create soundscapes that exert a palpable fascination.

Track Listing

• Beneath the Undercurrent
• A Rumoured Version of Ourselves
• Two Fold
• Bob Whites
• Time Makes the Tune
• A Triple of Keys
• Polylectic
• Noded Disnoded
• Luz

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 58 mins

Release Date: 04/08/08

UPC: 774355156926