Where Horns Meet Drums
Review of the Trio «Eklektika» Debut Album «Encounters»
Latvian jazz scene is primarily built on a blend of American post-bop and fluid Scandinavian avant-garde, peppered with folk, contemporary music, and other influences. Every so often, it needs a good shake-up — something unexpected and groovy. That is exactly what the trio Eklektika delivers with their debut album, Encounters.
This is a very confident debut, and the reasons aren’t hard to find. The most crucial factor is the collective experience of the three members. Saxophonist Rūdolfs Pēteris Rubenis, for instance, is known for his work with the Riga Saxophone Quartet and the saxophone quartet Atomos. Drummer Kārlis Roberts Kalējs released his solo album Ode to Becoming two and a half years ago, and clarinetist Artūrs Bariss has collaborated with a wide range of musicians. Like his bandmates, Bariss has refined his musical craft through extensive formal education.
The three met at a jam session in the skater hangout Lokal House, resulting in a musical trio quite unusual for our latitudes: two horns and drums. They didn’t have to look far for a charge of modern energy; most had spent time playing more «polished» music from the worlds of classical and jazz, but a desire to groove in a more experimental fashion had clearly been smoldering for some time.
Sound and Influences
A jam session is the perfect place to ignite such desires. Even now, following the release of their debut and the start of preparations for their next record, the group essentially continues to jam during their concerts, playing around with the album’s tracks in a free, unhurried manner.
The album features six tracks — the trio’s first chronological collaborations — «zipped» together for the recording. Within the Latvian scene, the first associations that come to mind are the works of S&T Syndicate. However, Eklektika’s truly eclectic groove and energy are even more reminiscent of international acts like The Comet Is Coming, BadBadNotGood, Melt Yourself Down, and Moon Hooch.
While a lineup of tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet, and drums might suggest these comparisons from a distance, the use of pedals and other electronic gadgets firmly places Eklektika at the epicenter of the modern «groover» category. They orbit the sun of jazz while offering bright, comet-like flashes of something entirely new.
Standout Tracks
«Public Enemy»: The brightest flash on the album. It has no direct connection to the legendary political hip-hop group, but it has everything to do with shaking up the audience through sheer power and a totally atypical musical approach. Thanks to the aforementioned gadgets, the realization that «the clarinet is playing the bass line while the baritone sax plays the melody» is not the first (or even fifth) thing that comes to a listener’s enlightened mind.
«Meditācija» (Meditation): The group proves they aren’t always redlining the tachometer. This track is an elegant cruise that allows the clarinet to curve gracefully through the soundscape.
«Jumanji»: Logically following the meditation, this is the longest jam on the album. It stands out for its particularly complex horn interplay and equally atypical rhythms. It’s easy to imagine how a live audience would be entertained by a full palette of «Jumanji jungle fantasies» that can’t quite be squeezed into the album’s seven-minute limit.
«The Quest»: Having become a relative radio hit even before the album’s release, this track allows the listener to settle into Eastern-inspired moods. It underscores the word «eclectic» with a fat bass line and suggests these guys have much more to say.
Technical Prowess and Aesthetic
You can’t credit the gadgets alone for their skill. These are three undeniably talented guys who have locked together to solve a self-imposed problem: how to survive without a harmonic instrument or even the traditional groove of a bass guitar. From the very first bars, it is clear that this «problem» is Eklektika’s greatest advantage rather than a limitation. Their «octave gearbox» shifts via pedals, and the group’s fast-moving car stays firmly on the road through sharp turns, even when balanced on only two «musical wheels.»
The album’s visual identity was created by Irish artist Nathanael Roman, who lives in Lithuania and is known in independent circles as the illustrator Pipe & Pallet and the soundscape creator Spit Portrait. His drone-like auditory vision matches the music perfectly.
Encounters is an album that could easily and interestingly meet the ideas of music-producing DJs (steering clear of the EDM camp, of course). Specialists in IDM and drum’n’bass would certainly find plenty to work with here.