Thomas Stronen & Time Is A Blind Guide - Lucus

For his album 'Lucus', Norwegian drummer/composer Thomas Str�nen presents a revised edition of his acoustic collective Time Is A Blind Guide, now trimmed to quintet size, and with a new pianist in Wakayama-born Ayumi Tanaka. This 180g vinyl version (which comes with a free download code) has one less track than the CD.

Tanaka has spoken of seeking associative connections between Japan and Norway in her improvising, a tendency Str�nen seems to be encouraging with his space-conscious writing for the ensemble, letting in more light.

As on the group's eponymously-titled and critically-lauded debut album there are excellent contributions from the string players � the quintet effectively contains both a string trio and a piano trio � and Manfred Eicher's production brings out all the fine detail in the grain of the collective sound and the halo of its overtones, captured in the famously-responsive acoustic of Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo in March 2017.

Personnel: Ayumi Tanaka (piano), H�kon Aase (violin), Lucy Railton (violoncello), Ole Morten V�gan (double bass), Thomas Str�nen (drums, percussion)