From left to right : Oliver Degabrielle / Jean Kapsa / Maxime Fleau / Damien Fleau
A recent and fascinating encounter, bubbling in the image of the four pillars of this story, Damien (tenor saxophone) and Maxime Fleau (drums), Olivier Degabrielle (bass), and Jean Kapsa (piano)
with a big thank you to Pascal Pilorget / GiantSteps for the connections and the start of this incredibly energetic adventure.
Festen, a quartet founded in 2007, draws on the complex and disturbing universe of Vinterberg’s films; the band drew their inspiration from that formal sobriety, from that vivid and brutal style peculiar to the Danish movies of the 90s. Festen try to free themselves from the structures and norms on behalf of a crude, realistic and almost nervous message. Jazz then, but a jazz that would have fallen captive to the harsh seductions of rock, that would have been able to come to terms with its adolescence in order to serve it again in compositions that are as original as they are energy-giving. And here is the real key word : Energy.
One will notice that they must have had ears around the 1990s rock, in particular Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Birthday Party... The pieces are short and the melodies seem to have the same impact as if they were sung. On stage, the group is focused on placing the groove, a way of capturing the audience and taking them on board straight out. The message never goes into idle chatter. Composition work is always a collective one and each musician is here to serve just one entity.
In line with their previous work, they are preparing a new opus that will take us even more into the cinematographic universe with a matured, asserted and passionate musical direction. The music of that next opus will be based on the filmography of a director they admire : Stanley Kubrick.
The album “Inside Stanley Kubrick” will be released... a little bit every month from April !