Acclaimed Swiss pianist and composer Stefan Aeby presents with his trio his debut on Intakt Records as a bandleader. His excellent new album "to the light" with bass player André Pousaz and drummer Michi Stulz has a clear, unique identity. The trio follows a free vision of minimal sound art, leaving space and time to react to each other, and to revel in the sounds. Florian Keller writes in the liner notes: "To build their multi-layered sound architecture, these three music fanatics avoid the weight of the monumental, instead using their atmospheric musicianship to create a soundtrack for the poetry of the unobtrusive. The magic of this expansive music lies in a courageous aesthetic of modesty, which favours fine-fingered sensitivity over the muscular gestures of musical high-performance sport, and thus a statement against the thundering excesses of spectacle. Yet this graceful sonic art is indeed spectacular in its filigree way. Unpretentiously, the trio have cultivated a kind of gallant tiptoe. The principle is to play softly and generate tension walking on velvet paws. This urgent ensemble music often creates its magic through a calmness bordering on silence."

Cover art: Romano P. Riedo
Graphic design: Jonas schoder
Liner notes: Florian Keller
Photo: Stéphanie Borcard and Nicolas Métraux

All compositions by stefan aeby (sUisa), except nr. 8 by andré Pousaz (sUisa). Recorded on november 19 and 20, 2015, at Idee und Klang Studio, Basel, by Daniel Dettwiler and Benjamin Gut. Tracking by Benjamin Gut. Mixed and mastered by Daniel Dettwiler.