Canadian trumpeter-composer-improviser-bandleader Lina Allemano splits her time between Berlin and Toronto. Flip Side is the long-awaited follow-up to her Berlin-based Ohrenschmaus (Ear Candy in German) power trio, featuring Norwegian electric bassist Dan Peter Sundland and German drummer Michael Griener, following the debut album Rats and Mice (Lumo, 2020). The trio is augmented on three pieces by American, ex-New York scene veteran and now fellow Berliner)accordion and electronics player Andrea Parkins. The album was recorded live off the floor in an old school room in Berlin’s Schöneweide neighborhood in August 2023.

Ohrenschmaus’ music is equal parts melodic and gestural, playing Allemano’s distinctive original compositions with a mandate of strong group interaction, improvisation, and sonic exploration. The three pieces with Parkins – «Sidetrack», «Sideswipe» and «Sidespin» – are energetic free improvisations that enjoy Parkins’ exciting and subversive spirit. All are developed patiently and in unpredictable and enigmatic manners and with the employment of various extended techniques that exhaust the imaginative and rich sonic vision of Ohrenschmau. Parkins integrates beautifully into Ohrenschmaus’ dynamics.

Allemano composed three pieces of the trio, highlighting its intense dynamics, even in its most lyrical and openly emotional pieces (check «Heartstrings» and the mysterious and dramatic «Stricken»). These pieces stress the strong-minded personalities of Allemano, Sundland and Griener and the powerful dynamics that this trio has established. «The Line» was co-composed by Allemano and Sundland and takes Ohrenschmaus on an adventurous, fast-shifting and fiery journey.

The live, unconventional recording setting contributed to the physical, almost tangible feel of Flip Side. It offers music that touches – literally – the body and the soul.

Eyal Hareuveni

Lina Allemano (trumpet), Dan Peter Sundland (electric bass), Michael Griener (drums), Andrea Parkins (accordion, objects & electronics)