Most Intimate by Nakama

Even though the music on this album isn’t conceptual, the structure of it is. I wanted to make a collaborative album portraying the musicians as ensemble players, improvisers, soloists and composers. In order to fulfill that vision we decided to write small Dedications to each other. I wrote for Andreas, Andreas for Adrian, Adrian for Ayumi and Ayumi for me. The only rule was that the person who received the dedication was to be omitted from the composition. Each of the dedications are followed by a solo improvisation, or as we have called it here — Gratitude — from the receiver. The solo is then followed by a synthesis of the two former, a short improvised something with all four, but with the dedicator and the receiver swapping instruments. We have called these pieces Unifications. I also made a little theme with a corresponding variation to serve as a wrapping around it all. In addition we made a fifth Unification which is a free interpretation of the aforementioned theme, and in which all of us swap instruments so that we play the one instrument we did not get to play in the other four Unifications. All in all the recording consists of 15 tracks which present the band in literally all possible solo-, duo-, trio- and quartet combinations. The duos are presented on the opening track which is the variation on the theme, the trios on the Dedications, the quartets on the Unifications, and the solos on the Gratitudes. The album can be experienced without this knowledge, but is really structured to be listened to as the way it is grouped - as a question, a response, and a sort of agreement (Dedication, Gratitude, Unification). With the exception of the title theme, none of us had heard any of the other compositions beforehand. We had been touring for 9 days, and I wanted the tour to culminate in a recording session which took advantage of the fatigue we were suffering from. Great things happen when the discerning, analytic and intellectual mind is bypassed, and it is that flavor which «Most Intimate» is representing.

- Christian

Nakama Records was founded as a musicians’ collective in 2015. The label arranges concerts and releases selected projects of the collective’s musicians, each of whom are connected to the expansive band Nakama. Nakama is a non-hierarchic label, respects each member’s musical agenda, and has a goal to feed the world with interesting, ground breaking, alternative music.

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