GLASS MUSEUM – UHODA JAZZ A LIEGE

GLASS MUSEUM

After two albums inspired by vast northern landscapes, but also by the forces of nature and a certain duality, Glass Museum broadens its horizons. Formed in 2016 from the meeting of pianist Antoine Flipo and drummer Martin Grégoire, the duo now roams the arteries of the city alongside bassist Issam Labbene, the third official member of a group in motion within the urban jungle.

A true turning point in Glass Museum’s career, 4N4LOG CITY bends the codes of electronic music, explores the depths of jazz, and asserts its eclecticism through an unprecedented groove.

Signed to the demanding Sdban Records label (Black Flower, STUFF.), Glass Museum shapes its DNA under the arches of Volta, a music centre frequented by the spearheads of the “new Belgian scene”, the name given to an innovative, unifying artistic movement now travelling across the globe. Neighbouring acts such as ECHT!, Lander & Adriaan and Tukan, the trio pushes the boundaries of its universe through new sensitivities and a renewed working method.

Recorded between the Drôme, Volta and a former industrial site in Brussels, 4N4LOG CITY features prestigious guests, starting with Swiss drummer Arthur Hnatek. Praised by legends such as Laurent Garnier and Gilles Peterson, and known for his collaborations with Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan and trumpeter Erik Truffaz, the Swiss metronome drives the opening track GATE 1 into a fully addictive krautrock trance. Elsewhere, JDS’s voice carries the melancholic momentum of Call Me Names towards the edges of a vintage soul-jazz melody. Not far from the achievements of Jordan Rakei or Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes, the track soothes the tensions of a world on edge and warms the heart beneath a setting sun.

Without abandoning its sense of melody or ideals, Glass Museum embraces calculated risk. This bold approach is fully realised in III, a laboratory of sounds and ideas where the piano unfolds beyond formatted structures, at the crossroads of ambient and breakbeat. Outside its comfort zone, the Belgian group perceives unexpected bonds between people and aesthetics, as demonstrated by VAN GLAS, a hip-hop epic crafted in collaboration with the incomparable Jazz Brak (STIKSTOF).

A soundtrack inspired by the rhythm and frequencies of the city, 4N4LOG CITY embodies the mechanical ebb and flow beneath the concrete blocks. Produced by Antoine Flipo and mixed by Elsa Grelot (Avalanche Kaito), this third album speaks of the anonymous lives moving across the asphalt, and of the countless other connections that, in an instant, form between the walls of the metropolis. At the crossroads of the human and the mineral, Glass Museum delivers a post-modern, inspired and highly cinematic work. A true tour de force, without question.