Ocean Eddie is a Belgian chamber trio featuring accordionist Stan Maris, sax player Viktor Perdieus and pianist-harmonium player Andreas Bral (who plays in Hanne de Backer’s Gabbro). The trio’s title refers to circular currents that coexist within larger ocean movements, often called eddies.

Gyorgy at the Space Bar is Ocean Eddies’ second full-length album (who also recorded an EP with Swedish sax player Martin Küchen, Hay, Tinke, 2024). It features Swedish vocal artist Sofia Jernberg and was recorded during a 4-day at Kunstencentrum Nona in Mechelen in April 2024 and released by the trio’s Tinke label «for capsizable music».

Ocean Eddie claims that the nine pieces were composed but «played from the perspective of free musicians», and describes the music as «minimal, rhythmical with little hints of lyricism». The trio’s music moves seamlessly and gently between contemporary music and modern jazz or free improvised music and abstract, reductionist music, careful not to surrender to genre conventions.

Jernberg, with her expressive, wordless vocals, acts as an agent provocateur who challenges herself within this composed-improvised format and pushes Ocean Eddie’s dynamics further into the unpredictable, eccentric, and poetic terrains, allowing all to rely on and fully trust their sonic imagination, intuition and instincts. Each piece explores distinct dynamics, and extended techniques and searches for newer, challenging timbral qualities.

You can easily imagine the composer György Ligeti listening to some insightful but absurdist perspectives about his work in a faraway Mandalorian space bar.

Eyal Hareuveni

Stan Maris (accordion), Viktor Perdieus (saxophones), Andreas Bral (prepared piano, harmonium), Sofia Jernberg (voice)