Naked Wolf - Naked Wolf (2014)

"... And once again, the nightly grapple with death, the room shaking with daemonic orchestras, the snatches of fearful sleep, the voices outside the window, my name being continually repeated with scorn by imaginary parties arriving, the dark's spinnets. As if there were not enough real noises in these nights the colour of grey hair. Not like the rending tumult of American cities, the noise of the unbandaging of great giants in agony. But the howling pariah dogs, the cocks that herald dawn all night, the drumming, the moaning that will be found later white plumage huddled on telegraph wires in back gardens or fowl roosting in apple trees, the eternal sorrow that never sleeps…" Under the Vulcano, Malcolm Lowry.

In the middle of Naked Wolf's free improvisations a danceable groove may arise. Feel free to dance is the bands' surprising motto. From the full range of a rock band to a soft chamber ensemble the jagged, hypnotic rhythms that are characteristic of the group aren't only laid down by drummer Gerri Jäger and bass guitarist Luc Ex but also by Yedo Gibson's pumping baritone sax. Yedo, who also plays clarinet and tenor sax and Felicity Provan's trumpet form the compact horn section. In contrast to this acoustic element are the electronics of guitarist Mikael Szafirowski's effects pedals and Ofir Klemperer's' synthesizer. The voices of Felicity and Ofir add yet other colours and direction to the music. Naked Wolfs composed material, in addition to the free improvisations, are designed and developed by all six members. Their music may take the shape of long, outstretched passages, rapid interchanges in mood and rhythm, high voltage intensity as well as quieter, subtle moments and refers to such genres as jazz, rock, world music and noise. The musicians are kept continuously on the alert, thus switching off the auto pilot whilst the band carefully steers clear of predictability.

"Ponderous rock rhythms meet free improvisations, jazz meets pop and world music, catchy song structures meet an ecstatic sound machine that produces high-voltage artificial sound storms far removed from the jazz mainstream, presenting a cheeky, boisterous challenge to our listening habits."