Swiss Music Ensemble Sonar to Release New Live Album with Legendary Guest Guitarist

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich

Swiss music ensemble Sonar will be releasing their new live album “Live At Moods” with guest soloist/texturalist David Torn on November 16, 2018 on 7d Media. It was recorded live at Moods Jazz Club in Zürich, Switzerland, on May 24th 2018.

Fusing a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo, Sonar have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music. With their slow-build approach to dramaturgy and avoidance of conventional forms, they focus on collective group efforts and a deeper kind of interaction amongst their members Stephan Thelen (guitar), Bernhard Wagner (guitar), Christian Kuntner (electric bass) and Manuel Pasquinelli (drums). Sonar's music is complex but still visceral, hypnotic but still dynamic. The ground feels as though it's continuously shifting beneath your feet in opposing directions as multiple motifs and rhythms flit about your head, circulating in different orbits.

Sonar was formed in late 2010 and has been on tour in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, Liechtenstein and Austria. In 2012, they released their first CD A Flaw of Nature on Nik Bärtsch's Ronin Rhythm Records label. Cuneiform Records released their second full-length CD Static Motion in 2014. Their third album Black Light was recorded and mixed by Peter Gabriel and Tool producer David Bottrill and released by Cuneiform in 2015 on CD and vinyl.

For their 4th full-length studio album Vortex, Sonar invited producer, guitarist and film-composer David Torn to work with them. During the recording, the chemistry between Sonar and David Torn worked so well that Torn was invited to play on every track. David Torn is regarded by many as one of the most influential electronic guitarists of our time. He's worked with many well-known musicians including David Bowie, Madonna (also co-writing), Tim Berne, Jan Garbarek, The Pineapple Thief, Jeff Beck (Grammy-winning production of “Jeff”), Kit Taylor, Mick Karn, David Sylvian, Craig Taborn, Tony Levin, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bill Bruford, Don Cherry, John Legend, Laurie Anderson, k.d. lang, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Matt Mitchell, Tori Amos, Kaki King, Donna Lewis etc.

The stylistic blending of Sonar's precisely structured, polyrhythmic rock music and David Torn's freely improvised, raw and emotional guitar interjections - a trademark of Vortex - is now continued in a live context on the six tracks of the Live at Moods album. There are three pieces from Vortex (“Waves and Particles”, “Red Shift” and “Lookface!”), a piece from Static Motion called “Twofold Covering” (the title of the track refers to the fact that the main bass riff of the piece is exactly the same as the guitar riff, just played half as fast and two octaves lower), a completely improvised David Torn solo piece called “For Lost Sailors” and “Tromsø”, a piece that Sonar played without David Torn. “Tromsø” is one of the first pieces that Sonar rehearsed together and it is the first track on the band's first album A Flaw of Nature. As a composition, it is a very minimal and austere piece that consists of only six small fragments in 9/8, but it remains one of Sonar's most dramatic and dynamic pieces.

Watch Sonar's video for “Twofold Covering”:

Tracklist:

01 TWOFOLD COVERING 12:37
02 WAVES & PARTICLES 7:43
03 RED SHIFT 10:03
04 TROMSØ (SONAR) 10:23
05 FOR LOST SAILORS (DAVID TORN) 10:18
06 LOOKFACE! 5:22

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich, May 24, 2018

David Torn: Electric Guitar & Live Looping
Stephan Thelen: Tritone Guitar
Bernhard Wagner: Tritone Guitar
Christian Kuntner: Tritone Bass
Manuel Pasquinelli: Drums

Edited & Mixed by Stephen Thelen except “For Lost Sailors” Edited & Mixed by David Torn

All tracks written by Stephan Thelen except:
“For Lost Sailors” written by David Torn
“Lookface!” written by Stephan Thelen, Bernhard Wagner, Christian Kuntner, Manuel Pasquinelli & David Torn

Cover photograph by Tim Berne, Band photo by Joel Gilardini

Special Thanks to Nicole Grau, Trey Gunn, Anil Prasad & The Moods Team

David Torn appears courtesy of ECM Records

Here's what the press has said about Sonar:

“Sonar, Swiss masters of multi-rhythm tritone minimalism, continue their career-long quest for a state of grace with Vortex, an album made with American impressionist guitar slinger David Torn, a combination of opposites that compliments one another marvellously on a scintillating journey into the abyss.” (Roger Trenwith, The Progressive Aspect)

“Torn's blasts, arches, and suspensions decisively enrich the sound of the quartet. Their mutual fascination for sonic textures is contagious, and I found myself exploring every minute of this well-weaved tapestry of polyrhythmic rock lustiness and groovy backgrounds. Vortex is a masterstroke that treats sound with prestige.” (Felipe Freitag, JazzTrail)

“One listen to even just a minute or two from Vortex and it becomes crystal clear that, in the 21st century, few groups have emerged as incomparable, innovative and imaginative as Sonar.” (John Kelman, All About Jazz)

“The combination of two seemingly disparate and distinct musical styles can often be an abject failure, or surprisingly may occasionally create an unexpected delight. In the case of Sonar’s Vortex, the band's polyrhythmic math rock style has been mixed and melded with David Torn’s exquisite tones and expressive, improvised guitar interjections to create something that is rarely unappealing, but is frequently magnificent.” (Owen Davies, dprp.net)

“Sonar is life at ground level; Torn is the weather. Their interaction feels at once organic and bifurcated. The aptly named title track could be a 10-minute sonic simulation of a tornado moving through a town...Torn add(s) a sunset-like brilliance to the already translucent beauty of Sonar's tuneful math.” (Britt Robson, The Jazz Times)

“Torn explodes chords into millisecond shards and sustains single notes through eons of emotion in rhythmically complex multipart compositions that sound unlike anything else in rock.” (Richard Gehr, Relix)

“Why else did I, one day, play this mesmeric album continuously, seven or eight times straight through? Is it rock or is it jazz – and, who cares? It”s brilliant.” (Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal)

 “An anti-hero's masterpiece ... a revolutionary shot across the bow ... Sonar has defied the norm by crafting something singular and magical.” (Jeff Miers, Static Motion review, The Buffalo News)

To purchase Sonar With David Torn Live At Moods:
In Europe: sonar-band.bandcamp.com
Rest of the World: https://sonar7d.bandcamp.com/


Live videos available at: 

For more information:
www.sonar-band.ch
www.facebook.com/sonarband

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Swiss Music Ensemble Sonar to Release New Live Album with Legendary Guest Guitarist

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich

Swiss music ensemble Sonar will be releasing their new live album “Live At Moods” with guest soloist/texturalist David Torn on November 16, 2018 on 7d Media. It was recorded live at Moods Jazz Club in Zürich, Switzerland, on May 24th 2018.

Fusing a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo, Sonar have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music. With their slow-build approach to dramaturgy and avoidance of conventional forms, they focus on collective group efforts and a deeper kind of interaction amongst their members Stephan Thelen (guitar), Bernhard Wagner (guitar), Christian Kuntner (electric bass) and Manuel Pasquinelli (drums). Sonar's music is complex but still visceral, hypnotic but still dynamic. The ground feels as though it's continuously shifting beneath your feet in opposing directions as multiple motifs and rhythms flit about your head, circulating in different orbits.

Sonar was formed in late 2010 and has been on tour in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, Liechtenstein and Austria. In 2012, they released their first CD A Flaw of Nature on Nik Bärtsch's Ronin Rhythm Records label. Cuneiform Records released their second full-length CD Static Motion in 2014. Their third album Black Light was recorded and mixed by Peter Gabriel and Tool producer David Bottrill and released by Cuneiform in 2015 on CD and vinyl.

For their 4th full-length studio album Vortex, Sonar invited producer, guitarist and film-composer David Torn to work with them. During the recording, the chemistry between Sonar and David Torn worked so well that Torn was invited to play on every track. David Torn is regarded by many as one of the most influential electronic guitarists of our time. He's worked with many well-known musicians including David Bowie, Madonna (also co-writing), Tim Berne, Jan Garbarek, The Pineapple Thief, Jeff Beck (Grammy-winning production of “Jeff”), Kit Taylor, Mick Karn, David Sylvian, Craig Taborn, Tony Levin, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bill Bruford, Don Cherry, John Legend, Laurie Anderson, k.d. lang, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Matt Mitchell, Tori Amos, Kaki King, Donna Lewis etc.

The stylistic blending of Sonar's precisely structured, polyrhythmic rock music and David Torn's freely improvised, raw and emotional guitar interjections - a trademark of Vortex - is now continued in a live context on the six tracks of the Live at Moods album. There are three pieces from Vortex (“Waves and Particles”, “Red Shift” and “Lookface!”), a piece from Static Motion called “Twofold Covering” (the title of the track refers to the fact that the main bass riff of the piece is exactly the same as the guitar riff, just played half as fast and two octaves lower), a completely improvised David Torn solo piece called “For Lost Sailors” and “Tromsø”, a piece that Sonar played without David Torn. “Tromsø” is one of the first pieces that Sonar rehearsed together and it is the first track on the band's first album A Flaw of Nature. As a composition, it is a very minimal and austere piece that consists of only six small fragments in 9/8, but it remains one of Sonar's most dramatic and dynamic pieces.

Watch Sonar's video for “Twofold Covering”:

Tracklist:

01 TWOFOLD COVERING 12:37
02 WAVES & PARTICLES 7:43
03 RED SHIFT 10:03
04 TROMSØ (SONAR) 10:23
05 FOR LOST SAILORS (DAVID TORN) 10:18
06 LOOKFACE! 5:22

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich, May 24, 2018

David Torn: Electric Guitar & Live Looping
Stephan Thelen: Tritone Guitar
Bernhard Wagner: Tritone Guitar
Christian Kuntner: Tritone Bass
Manuel Pasquinelli: Drums

Edited & Mixed by Stephen Thelen except “For Lost Sailors” Edited & Mixed by David Torn

All tracks written by Stephan Thelen except:
“For Lost Sailors” written by David Torn
“Lookface!” written by Stephan Thelen, Bernhard Wagner, Christian Kuntner, Manuel Pasquinelli & David Torn

Cover photograph by Tim Berne, Band photo by Joel Gilardini

Special Thanks to Nicole Grau, Trey Gunn, Anil Prasad & The Moods Team

David Torn appears courtesy of ECM Records

Here's what the press has said about Sonar:

“Sonar, Swiss masters of multi-rhythm tritone minimalism, continue their career-long quest for a state of grace with Vortex, an album made with American impressionist guitar slinger David Torn, a combination of opposites that compliments one another marvellously on a scintillating journey into the abyss.” (Roger Trenwith, The Progressive Aspect)

“Torn's blasts, arches, and suspensions decisively enrich the sound of the quartet. Their mutual fascination for sonic textures is contagious, and I found myself exploring every minute of this well-weaved tapestry of polyrhythmic rock lustiness and groovy backgrounds. Vortex is a masterstroke that treats sound with prestige.” (Felipe Freitag, JazzTrail)

“One listen to even just a minute or two from Vortex and it becomes crystal clear that, in the 21st century, few groups have emerged as incomparable, innovative and imaginative as Sonar.” (John Kelman, All About Jazz)

“The combination of two seemingly disparate and distinct musical styles can often be an abject failure, or surprisingly may occasionally create an unexpected delight. In the case of Sonar’s Vortex, the band's polyrhythmic math rock style has been mixed and melded with David Torn’s exquisite tones and expressive, improvised guitar interjections to create something that is rarely unappealing, but is frequently magnificent.” (Owen Davies, dprp.net)

“Sonar is life at ground level; Torn is the weather. Their interaction feels at once organic and bifurcated. The aptly named title track could be a 10-minute sonic simulation of a tornado moving through a town...Torn add(s) a sunset-like brilliance to the already translucent beauty of Sonar's tuneful math.” (Britt Robson, The Jazz Times)

“Torn explodes chords into millisecond shards and sustains single notes through eons of emotion in rhythmically complex multipart compositions that sound unlike anything else in rock.” (Richard Gehr, Relix)

“Why else did I, one day, play this mesmeric album continuously, seven or eight times straight through? Is it rock or is it jazz – and, who cares? It”s brilliant.” (Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal)

 “An anti-hero's masterpiece ... a revolutionary shot across the bow ... Sonar has defied the norm by crafting something singular and magical.” (Jeff Miers, Static Motion review, The Buffalo News)

To purchase Sonar With David Torn Live At Moods:
In Europe: sonar-band.bandcamp.com
Rest of the World: https://sonar7d.bandcamp.com/


Live videos available at: 

For more information:
www.sonar-band.ch
www.facebook.com/sonarband

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Swiss Music Ensemble Sonar to Release New Live Album with Legendary Guest Guitarist

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich

Swiss music ensemble Sonar will be releasing their new live album “Live At Moods” with guest soloist/texturalist David Torn on November 16, 2018 on 7d Media. It was recorded live at Moods Jazz Club in Zürich, Switzerland, on May 24th 2018.

Fusing a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo, Sonar have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music. With their slow-build approach to dramaturgy and avoidance of conventional forms, they focus on collective group efforts and a deeper kind of interaction amongst their members Stephan Thelen (guitar), Bernhard Wagner (guitar), Christian Kuntner (electric bass) and Manuel Pasquinelli (drums). Sonar's music is complex but still visceral, hypnotic but still dynamic. The ground feels as though it's continuously shifting beneath your feet in opposing directions as multiple motifs and rhythms flit about your head, circulating in different orbits.

Sonar was formed in late 2010 and has been on tour in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, Liechtenstein and Austria. In 2012, they released their first CD A Flaw of Nature on Nik Bärtsch's Ronin Rhythm Records label. Cuneiform Records released their second full-length CD Static Motion in 2014. Their third album Black Light was recorded and mixed by Peter Gabriel and Tool producer David Bottrill and released by Cuneiform in 2015 on CD and vinyl.

For their 4th full-length studio album Vortex, Sonar invited producer, guitarist and film-composer David Torn to work with them. During the recording, the chemistry between Sonar and David Torn worked so well that Torn was invited to play on every track. David Torn is regarded by many as one of the most influential electronic guitarists of our time. He's worked with many well-known musicians including David Bowie, Madonna (also co-writing), Tim Berne, Jan Garbarek, The Pineapple Thief, Jeff Beck (Grammy-winning production of “Jeff”), Kit Taylor, Mick Karn, David Sylvian, Craig Taborn, Tony Levin, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bill Bruford, Don Cherry, John Legend, Laurie Anderson, k.d. lang, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Matt Mitchell, Tori Amos, Kaki King, Donna Lewis etc.

The stylistic blending of Sonar's precisely structured, polyrhythmic rock music and David Torn's freely improvised, raw and emotional guitar interjections - a trademark of Vortex - is now continued in a live context on the six tracks of the Live at Moods album. There are three pieces from Vortex (“Waves and Particles”, “Red Shift” and “Lookface!”), a piece from Static Motion called “Twofold Covering” (the title of the track refers to the fact that the main bass riff of the piece is exactly the same as the guitar riff, just played half as fast and two octaves lower), a completely improvised David Torn solo piece called “For Lost Sailors” and “Tromsø”, a piece that Sonar played without David Torn. “Tromsø” is one of the first pieces that Sonar rehearsed together and it is the first track on the band's first album A Flaw of Nature. As a composition, it is a very minimal and austere piece that consists of only six small fragments in 9/8, but it remains one of Sonar's most dramatic and dynamic pieces.

Watch Sonar's video for “Twofold Covering”:

Tracklist:

01 TWOFOLD COVERING 12:37
02 WAVES & PARTICLES 7:43
03 RED SHIFT 10:03
04 TROMSØ (SONAR) 10:23
05 FOR LOST SAILORS (DAVID TORN) 10:18
06 LOOKFACE! 5:22

Recorded live at Moods Jazz Club, Zürich, May 24, 2018

David Torn: Electric Guitar & Live Looping
Stephan Thelen: Tritone Guitar
Bernhard Wagner: Tritone Guitar
Christian Kuntner: Tritone Bass
Manuel Pasquinelli: Drums

Edited & Mixed by Stephen Thelen except “For Lost Sailors” Edited & Mixed by David Torn

All tracks written by Stephan Thelen except:
“For Lost Sailors” written by David Torn
“Lookface!” written by Stephan Thelen, Bernhard Wagner, Christian Kuntner, Manuel Pasquinelli & David Torn

Cover photograph by Tim Berne, Band photo by Joel Gilardini

Special Thanks to Nicole Grau, Trey Gunn, Anil Prasad & The Moods Team

David Torn appears courtesy of ECM Records

Here's what the press has said about Sonar:

“Sonar, Swiss masters of multi-rhythm tritone minimalism, continue their career-long quest for a state of grace with Vortex, an album made with American impressionist guitar slinger David Torn, a combination of opposites that compliments one another marvellously on a scintillating journey into the abyss.” (Roger Trenwith, The Progressive Aspect)

“Torn's blasts, arches, and suspensions decisively enrich the sound of the quartet. Their mutual fascination for sonic textures is contagious, and I found myself exploring every minute of this well-weaved tapestry of polyrhythmic rock lustiness and groovy backgrounds. Vortex is a masterstroke that treats sound with prestige.” (Felipe Freitag, JazzTrail)

“One listen to even just a minute or two from Vortex and it becomes crystal clear that, in the 21st century, few groups have emerged as incomparable, innovative and imaginative as Sonar.” (John Kelman, All About Jazz)

“The combination of two seemingly disparate and distinct musical styles can often be an abject failure, or surprisingly may occasionally create an unexpected delight. In the case of Sonar’s Vortex, the band's polyrhythmic math rock style has been mixed and melded with David Torn’s exquisite tones and expressive, improvised guitar interjections to create something that is rarely unappealing, but is frequently magnificent.” (Owen Davies, dprp.net)

“Sonar is life at ground level; Torn is the weather. Their interaction feels at once organic and bifurcated. The aptly named title track could be a 10-minute sonic simulation of a tornado moving through a town...Torn add(s) a sunset-like brilliance to the already translucent beauty of Sonar's tuneful math.” (Britt Robson, The Jazz Times)

“Torn explodes chords into millisecond shards and sustains single notes through eons of emotion in rhythmically complex multipart compositions that sound unlike anything else in rock.” (Richard Gehr, Relix)

“Why else did I, one day, play this mesmeric album continuously, seven or eight times straight through? Is it rock or is it jazz – and, who cares? It”s brilliant.” (Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal)

 “An anti-hero's masterpiece ... a revolutionary shot across the bow ... Sonar has defied the norm by crafting something singular and magical.” (Jeff Miers, Static Motion review, The Buffalo News)

To purchase Sonar With David Torn Live At Moods:
In Europe: sonar-band.bandcamp.com
Rest of the World: https://sonar7d.bandcamp.com/


Live videos available at: 

For more information:
www.sonar-band.ch
www.facebook.com/sonarband

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Guitar Legend David Torn To Tour US In Support Of New Album “only sky”

Los Angeles - Ever-intrepid guitarist, producer, improviser, film composer and soundscape artist David Torn will embark on his first solo tour of the US since the mid-nineties (see itinerary below). The 22-city tour is in support of “only sky” - an album that explores the far sonic edges of what one man and a guitar can create, a solo recording of almost orchestral atmosphere.

“only sky” is Torn’s first ECM release since 2007’s acclaimed “prezens”, a full-band project, with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey, that Jazzwise described as “a vibrating collage full of shimmering sonic shapes, a dark, urban electronic soundscape – a potent mix of jazz, free-form rock and technology that is both demanding and rewarding.” Many of those same descriptors apply to “only sky”, with its hovering ambient shadows and vaulting flashes of light, its channeling of deep country/blues memories and Burroughsian dreams of North Africa. Recorded in the acoustically apt hall of the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in upstate New York (and then sorted and mixed in Torn’s own mad-scientist lair), “only sky” is an album to get lost in, over and again.

Says David, “For the 'only' sky tour, I'll be performing as I did for the recording: playing the electric guitar, bending its effect to how I might hear it fit these early days of the 21st Century; maybe I'll even convince it to kick some ass, too! Stranger things have happened.”

Across his career, Torn has worked with jazz improvisers (Jan Garbarek, Tim Berne, Don Cherry), film composers (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carter Burwell) and art-pop singers (David Bowie, David Sylvian). He has also composed music for several films including “Friday Night Lights”, “Lars and the Real Girl”, “Everything Must Go”.

“Torn has a knack for creating music that is at once ethereal and gestural…Torn’s integration of ephemeral realism and celestial surrealism is palpable, providing the true ebb and flow of only sky’s dramatic arc.” - Wilbur MacKenzie – The New York City Jazz Record

“To call him a hero of the electric avant-garde would be accurate but incomplete.” - Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“Go ahead and call the wily guitarist a master of chopped 'n' screwed jazz schema. Onstage the mad scientist and his new pals find a way to balance the aggression with the reflection. Wildly tantalizing textures.” - Village Voice New York

David Torn tour dates:
May 08 - New York, NY at Subculture
May 10 - Hamden, CT at The Ballroom at The Outer Space
May 11 - Marlboro, NY at The Falcon
May 12 - Dunellen, NJ at NJ Proghouse @ Roxy & Dukes
May 13 - Cambridge, MA at Regattabar
May 14 - Philadelphia, PA at Philadelphia Art Alliance
May 16 - Portland, OR at Holocene
May 17-18 - Seattle, WA at Storyville (Pike Place)
May 19 - San Francisco, CA at Slim’s
May 20 - Sacramento, CA at Gold Lion Arts
May 21 - Los Angeles, CA at Blue Whale
May 22 - Denver, CO at Walnut Room
May 26 - Minneapolis, MN at Cedar Cultural Center
May 27 - Milwaukee, WI at The Jazz Estate
May 29 - Chicago, IL at Constellation
May 30 - Cincinnati, OH at The Monastery
May 31 - Pittsburgh, PA at Club Café
June 1 - Washington DC at Union Arts
June 3 - Baltimore, MD at The Windup Space
June 4 - Carrboro, NC at Cat’s Cradle
June 6 - Asheville, NC at Streamside Concerts
June 7 - Atlanta, GA at Red Light Café

Press inquiries:

Tina Pelikan
ECM Records Publicity
1755 Broadway 3rd floor
New York, NY 10019
PH: 212 333-1405

Glass Onyon PR
PH: 828-350-8158
glassonyonpr@gmail.com