Iris - Iris - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The past three years have been indispensable in pianist Álvaro Torres's musical development. The essential ingredient being his adoption of New York City as his home and source of inspiration. Torres's investment in the deepest jazz scene in the world has allowed him rare opportunities to know and perform with his musical heroes, as he does on his new recording, Iris, which features the legendary drummer Barry Altschul and bass great John Hébert.Originally from Madrid, Spain, Torres sought out musical inspiration all over the globe. Having completed his studies at the Manhattan School of Music, Torres became addicted to New York City and all it has to offer. He finds inspiration everywhere, from his musical associates to the sounds of the city's bustling streets. Long before he moved to New York, Torres had discovered and fell for the playing of Altschul, who had the distinction of being a member of the collective improvising group Circle and trios led by two of the most advanced pianists in jazz Chick Corea and Paul Bley. Having attempted to meet Altschul in person but never managing to find him, Torres finally wrote the drummer to see if he would be willing to meet. Altschul proved to be very approachable and invited the young pianist over for a session. An opportunity for a gig at the Mezzrow Jazz Club appeared and Torres invited Altschul and bassist Hébert to form a trio. Since then, the trio has appeared regularly over the past two years, including at the venerable Jazz Gallery and Smalls jazz clubs. Naturally, the ensemble has continued to evolve. Initially, they performed original compositions by Torres and loose standards, allowing the pieces to blossom into improvisatory explorations. Now, Torres provides pieces with more structure, though the openness remains, the group ever able to go off into any musical direction. When Torres brought the trio to Trading

After a long hiatus on social media channels, the IRIS-satellite unexpectedly reports back to their homebase, including a 50 second snippet of InchThird StrikeInch - the opening track of their new album InchSixInch - and the message above. The notion of a remote satellite suddenly starting to broadcast again, from somewhere in outer space, is a metaphor that works well on two fronts the long media absence of the band, and the core concept of IRIS as a project which is Inchfar outInch from the normal synthpop genre. Iris stand out from the herd of their genre competitors not just in terms of quality, but also style and mission. On their 6th full-length album, the North American duo consisting of Reagan jones (vocals), and Andrew Sega (keyboards, production) prove once more that they are able to slowly evolve, yet still rely on their natural strengths - without repeating themselves or boring their audiences. This starts with the amazing vocals of Reagan Jones, that always impress with their natural, yet almost ethereal, ability to convey all the emotion embedded within IRIS' music. His talents works on both worlds, on record and live - a satellite broadcasting a delicate message from far away. It is this kind of quality that almost makes IRIS the InchshoegazersInch of the synthpop community. The second quality is within their production and songwriting skills. While other synthpop projects die to write that one hit and make it as danceable and catchy as possible, Iris writes songs that seem to come with qualities naturally built within. The authentic feel and honesty of their compositions immediately contradicts any impression of shallowness. Rather, Iris have an alternative-like quality to them, that always makes you wonder why these songs are so incredibly immersive. This, then, is perhaps the biggest quality of InchSixInch - The immersion within a warm, coherent cos

Album Tracks 1. Another Way 2. Phenom 3. Wayseer 4. In the Clear 5. Sound Becomes Waves 6. Don't Cry 7. Infinite Yonder 8. Cries of Insanity 9. Rewired 10. Sight Unseen 11. Life in a Forest