We previously covered Fugu Quintet almost a year ago, celebrating their latest album as “an eclectic stream of jazz stylings balanced between tradition and modernity”. An imaginative, daring and bold project, the international ensemble made it their mission to shatter the invisible glass between jazz and contemporary genres, only to gain even more elegance and charisma with unexpected results.
We find them today at a crossroads, a dark moment in their career. With members now living in different countries (including Russia) and a war looming large on the horizon, Fugu Quintet seeks to keep the creative fire alive with ‘Existential Defeat’, an extremely dark, melancholic and gloomy leftfield offering. Described by the group as ‘dark jazz’, the piece benefits from a spacious, noisy bass drone and heavily processed saxophone and piano, before exploding into a more conventional outro, this time with an electronic beat in it.
Aiming to evoke a horror-like reaction in the keen listener, Fugu Quintet uses ‘Existential Defeat’ as a cathartic tool towards a reality that’s bleak and unwelcoming. As they explain: “We are all apart, in different countries and cannot play anymore. War is going on, life is going on but for the band, it’s an existential defeat that could be overcome only by making new music”.
Recommended! Discover ‘Existential Defeat’ on Spotify:
