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Photos: Angelika Annen
Is This Water, with all its mystery, evidences the arrival of a compelling new piano trio on the 21st century jazz scene.AllMusic
It's absurd how good Swiss trio divr is at playing this music.Down Beat
Working together as divr, the trio of pianist Philipp Eden, bassist Raphael Walser, and drummer Jonas Ruther forge extended, meditative journeys from lilting beats and mesmerizing melodic tendrils. Most of the group's material is improvised in real time with an almost ritualistic devotion.
The musicians freely pursue their own contemplative gambits, but thanks to deeply intuitive connections formed over time the music glows with a unified sense of purpose and collective rigor. Sometimes lines create exquisite tension, sometimes they lock into deeply organic arcing shapes, disparate rhythmic schemes coalesce and pull apart, whether summoning hypnotic loops, ambient splendor, or chill downtempo electronica. With divr notions of genre evaporate and time becomes elastic, bound by a shared vision.
Two recordings from the shores of Lac Léman, edited as side-long pieces: Current, acoustic, from the Cully Jazz Festival 2023, and Drift from a four-night residency at Live in Vevey 2025.
Is This Water was the debut on We Jazz, mixed and post-produced by Dan Nicholls, and one of Bandcamp's best jazz albums of 2024.
Touring supported by Pro Helvetia: travel and accommodation are covered, so we are flexible on fees.
Photos: Angelika Annen