Pat Jaffe - LUNSEN (2026) [Hi-Res]

Australian composer Pat Jaffe is releasing the debut album of his project LUNSEN, named after the Lunsen forest near Uppsala, where he spent a university exchange. Rocky outcrops, white lichen and primeval spruce, blueberries in summer and fairytale scenes in winter left him with a sense of stillness and wildness that became the foundation of the band’s sound. By day Pat does decarbonisation modelling at a climate policy institute, and he writes music alongside it. The album is a portrait of the people, places and ideas that shape his life.

The lineup is a quartet: trumpeter Thien Pham, whose trumpet adapts to every piece; Zac O’Connell, who brings listeners along as his improvisations drift into abstraction; bassist Claire Abougelis, whose sound enriches everything around it; and drummer Marissa Di Marzio, who combines deep groove with selfless support.

Nearly every track is dedicated to a particular person or event. The opener, Blissonance, is about the dichotomies of nature. Greg’s Benedict is a thank-you to a regular who has attended almost every one of roughly 150 Wednesdays at Old Plates Record Bar, where Pat’s other group, Afrospace Interchange, has held a residency for three years. His partner jokingly protested that Greg got a song before she did.

Origin Story goes back to childhood: at seven, Pat’s parents took him to the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, where the Esbjörn Svensson Trio blew his mind. As he grew up, he felt he should move away from the music he loved as a kid, but later realised he had to return to it. The piece honours his favourite band from primary school, still his favourite today. Ailsa’s Birthday Song was written for a compilation that friends were putting together for Ailsa’s 30th birthday. It came together quickly, and the recorded take is the only time LUNSEN has played it.

Wide Pants arose from a personal “rebrand”: Pat, who had dressed the same and kept the same haircut for decades, swapped skinny chinos for wide trousers. After several years of chamber composition, he hoped to find a completely new sound. What came out instead is a distillation of the music he has loved since childhood, and he reflects that the legs under the new pants are the same. A Song for Our Silkie Chickens was written as a housewarming gift for his share house. His partner and housemate find its melody and bells too majestic for their chickens, but Pat disagrees. Glass and Glue is based on advice from pianist Dave McEvoy, a former climate activist: if you glue yourself to a building, glue yourself to the glass, since it’s harder to pry off. For Pat, it’s a reminder to approach spreadsheets and manuscripts with the same conviction.

The closing track, Eldorado, was written on an old upright piano in the home of his late grandparents in north-east Victoria, while the family packed up the house for sale. The pinkish granite of the hills and the clamour of Australian birds contrast with the grey stone and stillness of a Swedish forest, but Pat finds the bush of his childhood equally beautiful. The way the band brings those memories to life closes the album.

Tracklist:
01-01 Pat Jaffe - Blissonance [7:13]
01-02 Pat Jaffe - Greg's Benedict [4:59]
01-03 Pat Jaffe - Origin Story [5:59]
01-04 Pat Jaffe - Ailsa's Birthday Song [2:49]
01-05 Pat Jaffe - Wide Pants [6:52]
01-06 Pat Jaffe - Song For Our Silkie Chickens [2:45]
01-07 Pat Jaffe - Glass And Glue [5:15]
01-08 Pat Jaffe - Eldorado [7:43]