CD 1:
01 – Blink 05:47
02 – Tide I 03:15
03 – Tide II 10:22
04 – Driftwood I 05:37
05 – Driftwood II 06:18
06 – Tide III 04:55
07 – Sway 07:01
08 – Encore 03:08

total time: 46:28

CD 2:
01 – Another Blink 07:01
02 – Buoy 04:44
03 – Night 05:33
04 – Thrust 06:17
05 – Hymn 06:24
06 – Encounter 06:51
07 – Shadows 06:13

total time: 43:06

all music composed by TWIRLS DUO & TWIRLS QUARTET

recorded May 2022 by Guy Sternberg at Emil Berliner Studios
mixed and mastered by Guy Sternberg
design by Kurz Gestaltung
artwork by Özgür Yilmaz
produced by Alexander Beierbach & Nicolas Schulze

The recording of this music was supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

2-CDs / Digisleeve

Release Date: June 02, 2023

TWIRLS

TWIRLS is the name of the duo that Berlin based saxophonist Alexander Beierbach and pianist Nicolas Schulze from Potsdam have been working with since 2018. The duo regularly expands its lineup in collaboration with other musicians and artists of different genres, like in the ma-Ensemble with dancers Michal Hirsch (Israel) and Yuko Matsuyama (Japan) or in the project Laut.ma.le.rei, with Turkish illustrator Ceren Oykut.

The TWIRLS QUARTET was born out of such a collaboration. Together with Meinrad Kneer on double bass and Yorgos Dimitriadis on drums, two of the busiest musicians on the Berlin jazz and improvisation scene, a formation has emerged that casts the duo’s distinct sound in a new light. In May 2022, with the support of the Berlin Senate, the debut Tides & Shadows was recorded at Emil Berliner Studio and unites the duo and the quartet as a double album.

In the quartet’s improvisations as well as the duo’s free dialogues, the instrumentalists explore a landscape of sounds and textures nourished by diverse musical backgrounds. Rooted in free improvisation, the TWIRLS DUO’s playing also contains references to the polyphonic melodies of the Baroque era and influences from contemporary music. In the TWIRLS QUARTET, the classic roles of the individual instruments and the diverse possibilities of playing together as a collective are constantly being redefined. The musicians interweave different levels of density and space and superimpose melodic-harmonic interplay with high-contrast sound sequences. The music follows a flow of repetitive themes and motifs that sound, are discarded and picked up again at unexpected points.

Both line-ups on Tides & Shadows have a dark yet extremely transparent sound, which Guy Sternberg captured congenially for the double album. The cover is a wonderful painting by artist Özgür Yılmaz, whose imagery reflects the complexity of the music of both the TWIRLS DUO and the TWIRLS QUARTET.

https://twirls.de

all photos @ Cristina Marx / Photomusix

Jazzpodium – Juni 2023 – Michael Bossong about “Tides & Shadows”

About TWIRLS Duo: „The playing attitude of the two is very concentrated, thoughtful, intent on listening to the sounds that emerge. There is no room for inauthentic speaking here.“
About TWIRLS Quartet: „A stylistically confident, well-structured and perfectly aural collective improvisation. Uncompromising, consistent and without gimmick.“

Grand Guitars – April 2023 – Hans-Dieter Grünefeld about “Tides & Shadows”

„(…) Both the TWIRLS Duo and the TWIRLS Quartet do not allow themselves to be confused by unruly sound currents, but always have a mental compass at hand to guide their excursions.“

JazzWord – September 2023 – Ken Waxman about “Tides & Shadows”

„Preserving two archetypes of their long-standing partnership Tides & Shadows confirms all the musicians’ comprehensive and sympathetic skills. It also demonstrates that profound playing doesn’t have to be overwrought to make an impression.“ https://www.jazzword.com

Jazzthing – Juni 2023 – Martin Laurentius about “Tides & Shadows”

„(…) they have found a form of collective improvisation with which they more than do justice to the duo’s name. In playful flow, they give free rein to their phrases and lines, eloquently telling their stories and often emotionalising their music through non-traditional playing techniques.“

Bad Alchemy – #119 – Rigobert Dittman about “Tides & Shadows”

„The Twirls Quartet loudly paints (…) hymns to the night and to the groove of the Oceans of Sound.“

Jazzthetik – June 2023 – Hans-Jürgen Schaal about “Tides & Shadows”

About TWIRLS Duo: „(…) Their duo pieces offer captivating climaxes, free tonal lyricism, cluster-like sound balloons or crossings of noise with romance.“
About TWIRLS Quartet: „TWIRLS Quartet actually succeed in evoking drastic darkness or anthemic light. And they do it without any themes, metrics or harmonies at all.“

Jazzzeitung – September 2023 – Michael Scheiner about “Tides & Shadows”

“The interplay and expressiveness of the two musicians is unique and touching.”

Jazz Nedeljom – June 2023 – about “Tides & Shadows”

„Tides & Shadows is a real treat for those listeners who find themselves on the border between avant-garde jazz, modern composition and free improvisation. Complex and spontaneous, intellectual and warm, never unsure of where it´s going and always aware of where it’s coming from, this is an album that is particularly enjoyable on the most basic aesthetic level (…)“.