INTAKT RECORDS – CD-REVIEWS
SARAH BUECHI
CONTRADICTION OF HAPPINESS

Intakt CD 299 / 2018

 

Intakt Records, label de Zurich, possède un catalogue qui défriche volontiers les sentiers de traverses. Petit coup d'œil sur les dernières productions du label suisse. Un large éventail de projets aventureux.
Claude Loxhay, Jazzhalo, Belgium, Janvier 2018


Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy, BA 97, 2018

 

 

Steff Rohrbach, Jazznmore, März-April 2018

 

Marie Braun, Rheinpfalz, Deutschland, 5. März 2018

 

 

 



Birgit Müthrath, Die Rheinpfalz, 24.2.2018

 

Thorsten Meyer, Jazzpodium, April 2018

 

 

Time Out Lisboa, 28. Marco - 3. April 2018

 

 

Scott Yanow, Downbeat, June 2018

 

sarah buechi jazzwise review

Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise, June 2018

 

martin schuster reviews sarah buechi contradiction of happiness

Martin Schuster, Concerto #2, June 2018

 

Tor Hammero reviews Sarah Buechi

Tor Hammerø, Nettavisen, June 2018

 

Why is happiness so fleeting and so difficult to attain and hold onto? Why are there so many forces and tensions both inside ourselves and in the world around us, that actively oppose the very state of being we so desperately desire, namely happiness? How do we live in this contradiction, where happiness is our believed for destiny, but pain, failure and disappointment are our reality? Swiss born and world-traveled singer, lyricist, composer and arranger Sarah Buechi, uses poetic passion and intriguing soundscapes to ask those questions on this record. She resigns herself to an ongoing struggle for answers amidst life's challenges, and provides some comfort along the way as she succeeds artistically.
For this project Buechi added a string trio to her usual piano trio, composing all the parts herself, and their dramatic chamber music stylings help to create an atmosphere of existential alienation and yearning. Buechi drips and drapes her lyrics and free form vocalizations over, under and around the contours of the music, painting a tapestry of quest, and leading the listener along in suspense. This is "art music," structurally challenging, somewhat experimental and boundary-stretching, but also lovely and eminently musical. As she walks in a remote hamlet in western Ireland ("Fahamore") both she and the music evoke a paradise of wild and untamed conflict, of "Tears—Relief—Fear—Readiness. The sea: A wild raging cat—crawling out of the water and onto the land—and into the landscape of my soul. Fear—and readiness—to face it—anytime." Arco bass and the spaciousness of the skipping strings form an impressionistic and emotional landscape on this song. On "Snow Trail" a buoyant drum intro on brushes leads to some Rickie Lee Jones sounding vocals that notice "A snow trail—I follow it with my eyes—I walk it in my mind on light feet—feeling only its soft texture, not its cold sting—Where do you think it might lead to?—It might lead to nowhere—and for how long?" The jazz trio and the string trio complement and surround each other well on this date, creating suitable moods to fit the vulnerable and sometimes bleak lyrics. Buechi is a mature singer with an older woman's world-weary wisdom, and the hopes and dreams of a young girl's heart.

Mark Klafter, Cadence Magazine, July 2018

 

Jean Buzelin, CultureJazz.fr, Aug 2018

 

Yves "Joseph Boulier" T., JazzAroundMag, Sept 11 2018

 

Luca Miozzari, Schaffhausen Agenda, Oct 29 2018

 

Beatrice Ehrlich, Die Oberbadische, Sept 2018

Südostschweiz, 11 Nov 2018

 

Linth-Zeitung, Nov 11 2018

 

Luc Bouquet, Improjazz, Février, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

to Intakt home