The Lisbon-based trio BASFE was formed by accident. Brazilian-born guitarist and modular synth player Bartolo (aka Rodrigo Bessone, who is also a producer and sound artist. He produced and mixed and mastered the trio’s album) and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini finished a recording session for another project (both collaborated on Bartolo’s second solo album, Six improvisations for creatures, Chant, 2020), but the Namouche studios in Lisbon became available for the next several days, back in 2016. Bartolo and Ferrandini called tenor sax player Pedro Sousa who was in town and ready to play, and the free improvising trio BASFE was born.

All three musicians are highly experienced musicians. Bartolo has worked with Damo Suzuki, Paal Nilssen-Love and Caetano Veloso. Sousa has collaborated with Thurston Moore, Evan Parker, Phil Niblock, Sei Miguel and Rafael Toral. Ferrandini is a member of RED Trio and has worked with Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Axel Dörner, Evan Parker and Nate Wooley.

The music of the trio is raw, restless and intense, even in the most sparse, fragmented and quiet dynamics of the trio, and emphasizes the strong musical personalities of Bartolo, Sousa and Ferrandini. The six short free improvisations accumulate more hyperactive energy, distorted sounds and volume as they progress, all highlighting the emphatic but open, risk-taking and thorny approach of this ad-hoc trio.

Eyal Hareuveni

Bartolo (g, modular synth), Pedro Sousa (ts), Gabriel Ferrandini (dr)