Zsolt Kaltenecker & Tamara Mozes - Sub Rosa (2025)

We may think to hear keyboards, harpsichord, a Fender bass, distorted electric guitars and a double bass in Mozes & Kaltenecker's latest songs, but none of these instruments are represented on the album: all these sounds are created by Zsolt Kaltenecker, who has become one of the most sophisticated seaboard experts. This time, the duo has left behind the usual keyboard instruments (except for three songs, in which Tamara Mózes plays an acoustic piano), and recorded the entire album in real time, without any overdubs.

The style of the songs draws as much from indie rock and alternative pop as from contemporary music and jazz, and the intense poetry and dark lyricism, balancing with light optimism, evoke an almost underground, otherworldly opera at times. The concept – original compositions with two arrangements, one by Björk and Gershwin each – also falls close to the world of the duo's debut album (Futurized), but the maturity and complexity of the material also testifies to the five-year history of their collaboration.

The title Sub Rosa is an apt reference to the subtleties beneath the deceptively simple musical surface, and the musical-emotional landscape characterised by unpredictability from one side and the carefully placed “signposts” from the other.