«No Gravity» documents a new trio of Portuguese, Lisbon-based drummer-composer João Lencastre, who also plays on electronic percussion, with RED Trio’s pianist, Rodrigo Pinheiro, and double bass and electric bass player João Hasselberg, who also adds electronics. Pinheiro and Hasselberg are also members of Lencastre’s Parallel Realities quintet that released its debut album last year («Parallel Realities», FMR, 2019). The trio recorded «No Gravity» in Timbuktu Studio in Lisbon in February 2020.

The atmosphere of «No Gravity» is reserved and introspective. The trio incorporates subtle electronic sounds into its searching and contemplative tone while creating brief and delicate storms. Furthermore, the nine pieces imply loose, melodic themes, but keep deconstructing and restructuring these themes. The electroacoustic aesthetics allows this trio to experiment with unorthodox dynamics for a piano-bass-drums trio and to sketch enigmatic and textures like the cinematic «Harnessing Fear», the fractured «Arcade Games», the minimalist and inquisitive «Trying To Go Unnoticed» and «Floating» or to toy with noisy sounds on «2020». Only the short «Slam Dance» adopts a familiar strategy of free jazz.

The title piece is the most beautiful one here. Its mysterious, introspective melodic lines, with the fragile and ethereal resonance of – literally – no gravity, keep lingering on long after it’s gone. And this piece is performed with remarkable precision and elegance.

Great trio, promising debut album.

Eyal Hareuveni 

João Lencastre (dr, el.perc), Rodrigo Pinheiro (p), João Hasselberg (b, elec)