nage libre by Robin Nitram

‘Nage libre’ has been recorded near Paris, France between October and November 2022 in a tiny, intimistic recording studio. For this second album, the original band known as Motto Trio ; Robin Nitram (guitar), Nicolas Zentz (acoustic bass) and Ewen Grall (drums) were joined by three other guests : Roman Reidid (trumpet), Léa Ciechelski (alto sax) and Paul Wacrenier (rhodes and mbira). Although the album was made in a studio with amazing gears such as analog preamps, an old drum from the 50s and some amazing guitar amps, the setting of the recording was pretty much live. Everyone was in the same room except the double bass player.

There is an interesting balance to the album with the songs recorded only in a trio setting and those with guests. Each guest musician appears two times in the album. Nitram recalls wanting something new and fresh that came from the outside, hence the choice of adding three new voices to the trio’s sound.

There is something more to say about this record released on the young and innovative Hungarian Budapest-based label Morotva Records. On one hand, songs like ‘Le Repos du Loir’ and ‘Love is Safe’ can be described as contemporary ballads with moments of ambient improvisation (Nitram is an adept of the Line6 DL4 sampler device which allows him to create unique soundscapes) ‘Trop Tôt’ allows some space for a collective improvisation featuring the two horn players.

And on the other hand, although ‘La Fuite’ and ’Et Rebelote’ has been written mostly as jazz compositions, the way it is played and interpreted here show perfectly the influence of rock and noise music on the original trio’s members.

Paris-based music maker.

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