When We Leave is trumpeter/composer
Mathias Eick's fifth leader outing for
ECM and his first since 2018's acclaimed
Ravensburg. Recorded over two days in November 2020, his sidemen include violinist
Hakon Aase, pianist
Andreas Ulvo, bassist
Auden Erlien, drummers
Thorstein Lofthus and
Helge Norbakken, and pedal steel guitarist
Stian Carstensen. All but the steel player -- who has also worked with
Eick before -- appeared on
Ravensburg. The trumpeter composed all seven pieces here; they are each identified by a single-word title.
Fans of
Jaga Jazzist,
Eick's other band, will need to adjust their expectations. These compositions reflect the trumpeter's long-held preoccupation with the murky spaces between folk music and modern European jazz. Opener "Loving" offers a drifting, moody piano playing elegiac chords that introduce a lithe lyric line played by trumpet and violin. The two lead instruments circle one another and gradually, as the drummers begin to exchange phrases and time signatures as accents for the frontline players, engage major and minor modes before
Aase delivers a sumptuous solo complemented by fills from
Ulvo. "Turning" is introduced by plucked violin and bass before piano, violin, and trumpet cascade in a languid, vamp-like melody.
Eick's lyricism offers staggered cadences for doubled brass and string harmonies. They add levels of depth and dimension that resist easy classification. The trumpeter's solo, while brief, elevates the tune's entire dramatic premise. While "Flying" appears improvised initially, it opens to express a sparse, even skeletal piano melody that
Carstensen and
Eick hover over and dole out in single lines for the other players to improvise on. "Arvo," obviously inspired by Estonian composer
Arvo Paert, commences with a wispy Gregorian chant feel as
Eick's trumpet, wordless vocals, and
Aase's spectral violin exchange phrases, lines, and a mode. The drummers then enter one at a time, followed by
Erlien and finally
Carstensen, who adds sweeping chord voicings and canny pedal work to elevate the entire proceeding texturally and dynamically. It actually approaches the orchestral until the drummer's snares engage in staggered, nearly martial breakbeat rhythms. "Playing" follows logically.
Carstensen controls the tune's body as the two drummers speak in a somewhat urgent processional language.
Eick and
Aase converse along the economically notated lyric line. Closer "Begging" sounds like a benediction or an exit hymn. It's slow, atmospheric, and at once pastoral and regal. The delicacy in
Eick's aching melody expressionistically weds the sacred and the natural worlds while the pianist walks out the changes as an affirmation, and both drummers employ brushes in painting the backdrop with whispering cymbals and snares.
Carstensen and
Aase speak directly to
Eick's lyric solo, embellishing it with textured phrases and elongated octave notes.
Eick's composing on
When We Leave is muted yet rich, lovely, and sophisticated. He understands exactly how to write to this particular ensemble's strengths, and draws them out individually to express, along with him, longing and vulnerability. ~ Thom Jurek
