Vital Weekly
AB+ / A Linear Thought
2018

COLD VOODOO - AB+ (cassette by Wide Ear Records)
A LINEAR THOUGHT (7” by Wide Ear Records)

Cold Voodoo is a Swiss duo of Tobias Meier (alto saxophone) and Silvan Jeger (bass). Both are young improvisers whose names appear regularly in Vital Weekly. Jeger may be known from his participation in Day & Taxi, the group led by veteran saxophonist Christoph Gallio. Tobias Meier participates in Things to Sound, a trio with his brother David Meier on drums and Yves Theiler on piano and synth. Both musicians work together since many years in different projects. And these recordings illustrate their fine interplay and communication. Very engaging improvisations that are lively, spirited and sensitive. Improvised music as it should be. I especially enjoyed the nice tone of Meier on his saxophone. All condensed in two improvisations of about 15 minutes. Recorded in Basel somewhere in 2017. A Linear Thought is a curious collaboration of Tobias Meier (composition) with Dalia Donadio (voice) and Berni Doessegger (words). Released as a 7”-single with two tracks, recorded 2016 in Basel and Berlin. It shows Meier from a totally different side. As a composer of two short vocal works, which has nothing to do with improvisation. Dalia Donadio performs them. We know her from her collaboration with Linda Vogel as Schwalbe & Elephant, who released the excellent ‘Ich Als Du’- album also for Wide Ear. In these two multi-tracked pieces we hear Donadio producing long sustained sounds. Singing if you want in a non-verbal way. With a nice poetic and thought provoking text by Berni Doesegger, in German only. (DM)

www.vitalweekly.net