THUNDERBLENDER
Debut album, Stillorgan, out 11th September 2020 on W.E.R.F. records
Hendrik Lasure: piano & effects
Jens Bouttery: drums & bass synth
Sam Comerford: tenor & bass saxophone, composition
Recorded and mixed at La Patrie (Gent, Belgium) in February 2019 and 2020 by Koen Gisen.
Mastered by Rashad Becker at clunk.
Sleeve design by Jelle Martens
Cover Photo of Will and Sam Comerford by Susan Keyes
Executive Producer: Benny Claeysier for KAAP / W.E.R.F. records
Manufactured and distributed by N.E.W.S. distribution
(P) + (C) 2020
Brussels based trio Thunderblender release their debutant LP ‘Stillorgan’ on the Belgian label W.E.R.F. Records. Drawing on the mixture of heavy grooves and tender lyricism contained in their first EP ‘Last Minute Panic’ from 2017, the trio of Sam Comerford on Saxophone, Hendrik Lasure on piano, and Jens Bouttery simultaneously playing drums and bass synthesizer, this latest instalment sees them offer an intensely personal statement from bandleader and composer, Comerford. The album’s title ‘Stillorgan’ refers to a suburb of Dublin where Comerford grew up. The album art reflects the core themes of family life and love which is affectionately conveyed through its intimate imagery. Given their impressionistic and haunting quality, the imagery is both opaque, and a glaring confrontation with that lived reality.
Stillorgan’s opening number, ‘Lament’ offers melancholic atmospheres, spacious chords, dispersed percussion and damp, grizzly saxophone textures, counterposed by the slightly jarring effect of Lasure’s use of live sampling techniques. If ‘Lament’ offers a sense of contemplative flight, the LP’s single ‘Movin On’ brings the listener back to earth with its sense of urgency. Held together by Bouttery’s propulsive, syncopated groove, the track is driven forward by a lively conversation between Comerford’s escalating and sinuous saxophone articulations and Lasure’s measured piano chords. This dialogue is propelled onto different sonic planes through its continually evolving and restless structure. Following the earthy density of ‘Movin On!’, ‘Last Light Out’ oscillates into abstract speculative chaos. Reminiscent of Henry Threadgill’s admixture of contemporary classical and free jazz idioms, ‘Last Light Out’ offers a subtle dynamic between Bouttery’s cacophonous, dexterous grooves, Lasure’s complex chord progressions, and Comerford’s frenetic, yet agile tonal explorations. ‘Doubt’ shifts the gears once again by plunging the listener into an eerie, contemplative state.
‘Hope’ leaps from solemn reflection into buoyancy, where obtuse angular jabs propel the track along its zigzagging terrain: we are invited to a macabre carnival, a rhizomatic tap dance. ‘Arrival’ picks up the pieces from the carnage of ‘Hope’ by offering shimmering lyrical sound passages. Like Samuel Beckett famously said of his play Not I, that the piece should “work on the nerves of the audience, not its intellect,” Thunderblender’s ‘Panic Redux’ operates as its sonic equivalent, hammering out electrifying doses of distilled sound clusters. ‘Lights Out’ brings to the surface many of the melancholic themes which had been lurking throughout the LP into sharp relief with a sparse compositional language, which is at once haunting and densely layered.
Text by Dr. Samuel O’Connor Perks
Photo by Sophie Saporosi
About the band:
Thunderblender is a trio from Brussels led by Sam Comerford.
Together with two young trailblazers of the Belgian jazz scene, Hendrik Lasure (SCHNTZL) and Jens Bouttery (Hi Hawaii), they play Comerford’s dark and unpredictable compositions with joy and abandon.
The music explores intense emotions, moving between order and chaos, free improvisation and intricate writing, heavy grooves and fragile intimate moments. It’s a European band with a nod to the American avant-garde, influenced by Henry Threadgill and Tim Berne, with references to 20th century classical harmony.
Jens Bouttery augments his drum set with left-handed bass synth, giving him complete freedom as a one-man rhythm section. Without a conventional bass player, Lasure is free to use the full range of the grand piano, sometimes with live sampling. Comerford plays tenor and the rarely-heard bass saxophone, with playing that could be characterised as equal parts abrasive and lyrical.
In September 2020 they will release their debut album, Stillorgan, recorded with producer Koen Gisen, in CD and LP formats on WERF Records. This will be accompanied by a Belgian release tour, in association with Jazzlab Series. They have toured around Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany, Sam being awarded “Best Instrumentalist” at Tremplin d’Avignon. All three members are laureates of the “Toots Thielemans Award” from the KCB.
"Even in Thunderblender's most intense improvisational flights there's an abiding sense of the three musicians locked on the same intuitive wavelength, whereby freedom and control are but two sides of the same coin. Gutsy yet melodic, rhythmically complex yet grooving, there's plenty to admire in this fine debut."
- Ian Patterson, All About Jazz, on debut EP Last Minute Panic, 2017.
Sam Comerford (IE) - tenor and bass saxophone, compositions
Sam plays tenor and bass sax in groups such as Hendrik Lasure’s warm bad, Aerie, Umbra, Insufficient Funs, ODIL, and Yskan. He represented Ireland for two years in the European Saxophone Ensemble, and twice at the 12 Points Festival.
Hendrik Lasure (BE) - piano, live sampler
At 22 years old, Hendrik has drawn critical acclaim as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation. He plays piano and synthesiser in the duo SCHNTZL, and in 2018 released his debut album with warm bad, a sextet with three guitars. Other groups include Bombataz and An Pierlé quartet
Jens Bouttery (BE) - drums, bass synth
One of the most in demand drummers in and out of Belgium, Jens is one half of Hi Hawaii, a duo with Lennart Heyndels. As a sideman he works in groups such as Les Chroniques de l'Inutile, Llop and Jef Neve's "Spirit Control", and Warhaus.
Press:
Live review by Ian Patterson in All About Jazz
Interview and preview of Irish tour on marlbank
Last Minute Panic review in All About Jazz
Last Minute Panic review in Jazz’halo
Live review by Franck Bergerot in Jazz Magazine (FR)
Interview with Paul Godderis of Jazz'halo
Gigs:
2020:
2020:
21/08 Peepshow Palace Festival, De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (link)
Belgian release tour - double bill with Kreis, in association with Jazzlab
(more info here)
26/9 CC De Meent, Alsemberg
29/9 Handelsbeurs, Gent
3/10 CC Strombeek (not part of Jazzlab)
7/10 Muziekcentrum Track, Kortrijk
9/10 GC De Muze van Meise, Meise
15/10 De Casino, Sint-Niklaas
16/10 Rataplan, Borgerhout
18/10 Vrijstaat O (KAAP), Oostend
28/10 Nona, Mechelen
30/11 Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (Jazzycolors Festival)
28 March - Walter, Brussels, Belgium.
Double bill with Identified Flying Object feat Ralph Alessi, organised by Lundis d’Hortense
2019:
8 December - Café Roskam, Brussels, Belgium.
24 April - Flagey, Brussels, Belgium (double bill with Hendrik Lasure’s “warm bad”)
5 April - Cultuurcentrum Casino, Koksijde, Belgium (double bill with “warm bad”)
2018:
Irish Tour, March 2018 - more info here.
6th March, 9pm - Crane Lane Theatre, Cork - free entry
7 March, 8.30pm - Black Gate, Galway - €10 on the door
(with support from Matthew Berrill & Aengus Hackett)
8 March, 8pm - Black Box, Belfast - Tickets
(part of Brilliant Corners Festival)
10 March, 7.30pm - Fumbally Stables, Dublin - Tickets
(part of Spectrum Festival)
11 March, 3pm - Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford - Tickets
4 January - De Ruimte, Amsterdam (double bill with Geroezemoes)
7 January - Café Roskam, Brussels
2017:
8 February 2017 - De Koer, Gent, Belgium. Facebook event
18 February 2017 - VOLTA, Brussels, Belgium. Facebook event
30 April 2017 - International Jazz day, Café Roskam, Brussels, Belgium.
4 June 2017 - Ham Sessions, Gent, Belgium. Ham Sessions website
4 August 2017 - Concours Tremplin Jazz Avignon, France. Website
18 August 2017 - "So What?", Vrijstaat O, Oostende, Belgium.
27 October 2017 - STORM! Contest, KAAP, De Werf, Bruges, Belgium
28 October 2017 - EP release, Walter, Brussels