The Legends of Otranto

"Each track on the album reveals layers of innovation, rewarding listeners with rich details. The quartet weave minimalist passages and atonal sections with multiple rhythms, probing sound experiments and melodic fragments, as the group seek to link their improvisations and soundscape to the folklore of the region. It is often complex but strongly expressive and uses its sound palette to create an intriguing musical landscape."

"But I don't see too much reason to go deeper into the stories than to listen to the four's excellent playing throughout the six songs. And the one who stands out the most is, without a doubt, the excellent pianist Kirke Karja. She fits in well among the many freely improvising jazz pianists we hear today, with clear references to, for example, Cecil Taylor, although she is, by and large, much more melodic than the blessed Taylor. In addition, I find Veli Kujala's accordion playing exciting and fine. He masters this material in an excellent way, and delivers brilliant and exciting playing all the way. Emanno Baron's drumming is, at times, almost melodic, and he listens with great ears, and fits in perfectly with the others. He adds a number of creative ideas, which are picked up by the others, and helps to make this a great musical experience. And behind it all, Ferdinardo Romano plays bass with weight and conviction, and is the one who leads the other musicians through the six compositions with solid, Italian confidence. This has become an extremely exciting, creative and interesting release, where these four, relatively young musicians give us a history lesson where they creatively interpret the history of this part of Italy. Just listen to the opening, "La Torre del Serpe" and the closing track, "Re Artù", and you will get the variations in the music and the stories they tell, and understand what I mean. An excellent release!"

"𝐶𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑎 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎 𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎, 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖 𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖 𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑒 𝑑𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎.[..] 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎 𝑂𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑑𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑜 𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖 𝑖𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑖 𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑖 𝑒̀ 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖 𝑝𝑖𝑢̀ 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑙𝑖 𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑖."

"𝑈𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑜𝑛𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑙 «𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒», 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑎 𝑑𝑖 𝑢𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚, 𝑢𝑛𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑎, 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎, 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝑆𝑢𝑑. 𝑂𝑡𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑖 𝑑𝑖 𝑢𝑛’𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎̀ 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖, 𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑖 𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖 𝑑𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘, 𝑟𝑎𝑝, 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑝, 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑎."