Short Reviews [Led Bib - 2025 - "Hotel Pupik"]

Led Bib are back with their eleventh studio album, and it is surprising to note that it has been six years since their last, 'It's Morning'. Longtime keyboard player had left after 'Umbrella Weather' so that was the first one without him, and they brought in Elliot Galvin as a replacement, plus some other musicians, but now we find the band stripped back to the quartet of Pete Grogan (saxophones), Chris Williams (saxophones, effects), Liran Donin (bass, effects) and Mark Holub (drums) for their first album ever without keyboards. In 2024 they were given the opportunity to work as artists in residence at Hotel Pupik in the Austrian countryside to develop a completely new quartet sound without keyboards. Initially there was no intention to create an album, but the music and the spirit of the sessions made this inevitable and this is the result. I have long been a fan of the band who "continue to make the world safe for dangerous music", and with this release they show no sign whatsoever of changing their approach. Each of the musicians is somehow closely aligned with the others, yet at the same time is playing in very different universe. The drums set the tone, frenetic with heavy use of cymbals, the bass does not appear to be linked to it and is setting its own melody (often just a few different notes heavily repeated), and then we have the two saxophones. At least these guys appear to be in nodding acquaintance with each other, if not with the rhythm section, sometimes duetting or playing strange melodies which are at odds. At times it feels as if we have chanced into an improvisational session, yet it is obviously way too rehearsed for that. It is jazz, avant, RIO, music which is angular and edgy, with only the use of space coming through to temper what is happening. This is not music to allow the listener to relax, rather they are kept on edge throughout, wondering what is going on and whether they will still be sane at the end of the proceedings. However, it is hugely compelling, and something I find myself returning to time and again - I may question my sanity, but there is undoubtedly something quite special about this.