Domen Cizej - Introducing Domen Cizej (2023)

Percussionist and composer Domen Cizej’s vision surpasses the limits of the ordinary. On his debut Introducing Domen Cizej, the Amsterdam-based artist introduces himself in full range. A box set of five albums, each with a different ensemble, message, and power, offers an opportunity to hear Cizej’s vision in depth and in totality. The box set opens with the thunder of an eight-member percussion ensemble that can be experienced as a “body in a repetitive coordinated motion, aiming at transcending its own consciousness. It is a ritual that invites one to take part in it,” as Cizej himself describes it. The next album, performed by an acoustic jazz piano trio, displays lyricism, beauty, and purity of musical expression. Through an intricate duo interplay with prepared piano and orchestral percussion, and a playful second piano trio, the music brings us to the last album of the box set. On the solo album, Cizej orients us toward the origins of his vision through a sequence of compositions written for voice and drums.
As Joe Morris puts it in the liner notes: “This grand recording erases competing issues of history, influence, and methodology in today's improvised music culture by combining them seamlessly, thereby alleviating the listener of the burden of obsolete analysis. Instead, it offers new music that entices them to enjoy the surprise and pleasure of deciphering an exciting sonic puzzle.”