Badun – Last Night Sleep

Free flowing through dreamy landscapes of sound

When tuning your ear to Badun’s contemporary pitch on this album, you’re likely to hear reminiscences from late sixties and early seventies psych jazz and sinister impro-funk experiments. On one hand, as you listen to tracks like Plastic Jungle and Slow City there’s a clear sense of unbounded groove and cosmic feel, congenial with the music of the cool-headed masters of the past – this album definitely holds the inspirational echoes of spirits such as Miles, Zawinul and Sun Ra. On the other hand, when inviting the listener to set off on both interstellar and internal mind trips, Badun manage to fuse the reverb of spacey music history with their own present day reality of laptop-based modulation, digital glitches and multilayered sound architecture.

Since 2002, Badun has been exploring the intriguing territories of electronica, jazz and improvisation. Focusing on the energy of live performances while probing the secrets of home grown sound recording, the band has continuously changed its expression and artistic approaches. Now, well consolidated as a trio, Oliver Duckert, Aske Krammer, and Hjalte Møller, Badun release their most ambitious album yet. Not only does Last Night Sleep present itself as a coherent piece of work, where the tracks are subtly connected and add up to a solid whole. The album also points to Badun moving in another, more contemplative direction. Compared to their 2007 debut, the tempo has been slowed down significantly together with a radical expanding of the listening space. In this way, the trio has opened a deeper and wider auditory sphere which is still held together by a distinct sound that has Badun written all over it.

In addition to the organically flowing syncopations and harmonic ideas that spring from the trio itself, the album has contributions from among others multi-instrumentalist and guitar wiz Jonas Stampe. As well, on Juuhm and The Man with the Fine Hair, you’ll notice the percussive textures being contrasted by low key saxophone intonations of reed player Roger Döring. Inviting and integrating the sounds of fellow musicians is however not Badun’s biggest accomplishment. Even more importantly, they overcome the tricky divide between acoustic, electronic and digitally rendered elements. Far from being superficial, this results in a seamless amalgamation of new and old, of micro circuits and classic instrumental resonances - from the timbre of Rhodes piano and crispy synths to complex, yet earthy rhythm structures and fretless bass lines. This is a universal kind of music that calls for both relaxation and heavy sit down-grooving. And no matter how and when you listen to it, please don’t waste your time trying to find a fitting label – instead loosen up your inner aural system and let it all come through.

Music by || Aske Krammer, Hjalte Møller, Oliver Duckert
Music track 07 || Ollie Bown, Sam Britton
Mastered by || Will Worsley @ Trouble Studios
Artwork by || Mads Westrup
Format || CD, Digital