This new Lisbon-based quartet premiered in December 2019 at one of the main jazz venues in the city, Fábrica do Braço de Prata, as a trio, featuring alto and tenor sax player José Lencastre, known as the leader of his Nau Quartet, Brazilian bassist Felipe Zenicola, known from Paal Nilssen-Love’s New Brazilian Funk, and drummer João Valinho, who collaborated before with Ernesto Rodrigues orchestral projects. The powerful performance led the trio to record its debut album a few days later at the Namouche Studios, now with guitarist Jorge Nuno, known from the free-improv trio Uivo Zebra and the psychedelic-rock band Signs of the Silhouette.

«Anthropic Neglect» offers three free-improvised pieces, all titled as «Concept», and in a way suggesting that this quartet is a fiery amalgam of its four strong personalities. Nuno spiky and distorted guitar lines collide with the warm and melodic blows and shouts of Lencastre, while Zenicola and Valinho set a free, but aggressive pulse. These distinct individual voices set the restless tension that does not seek a cathartic release, and this tension is the essence of the quartet. Or as the quartet defines it: «Traces of saxophone go through a secret and lost space using electric strings as means and percussion as a guide in a joint process».  

Nuno and Zenicola perfect this tense and volatile approach on the apocalyptic and percolating «Concept 2», always on the verge of a sonic meltdown but never crossing it. Both play with reckless energy, push Lencastre’s sax to extreme terrains and rely on the powerful drumming of Valinho. Lencastre’s lyrical sax introduces «Concept 3», then Nuno charges this delicate atmosphere with sparse, psychedelic lines. When Nuno and Zenicola join the atmosphere becomes darker, distorted and noisier.

A promising debut.

Eyal Hareuveni  

José Lencastre (ts, as), Jorge Nuno (g), Felipe Zenícola (b),  João Valinho (dr)