Up, Down, Strange, Charm and Bottom. What might, on a first glance, sound like strange dance moves from a bizarre choreography are in fact the names of quarks. Some say that no quark in an atomic nucleus moves without its counterpart also doing so in another atomic nucleus, even if the other atomic nucleus is all the way over the other side of the globe. These processes running on a subatomic level are even attributed to phenomena such as 'love at first sight'. Like tiny parts within an atomic nucleus, the four musicians of Double Trouble seem to pulsate, firing their improvisations at each other. No note exists in a vacuum, finding instead its pair and its extension in the melodic lines of the other musicians. Peter Ehwald improvises with a certainty that says it is the openness of the musical dramaturgy which lends the music its drama and excitement. Ehwald's sounds - charming, strange or up and down - are echoed in the vibrations of the two terrific and virtuoso basses. Up, Down, Strange, Charme and Bottom is not as through-composed as Double Trouble's last two releases, challenging Andreas Lang and Robert Landfermann - both on bass - and Jonas Burgwinkel on drums to create orbits of their own. The quartet appears to be a common body of sound - steering through Ehwald's compositions, often with microcosmic density, sometimes in total equalisation - and thus develops a very individual tonal language. The heritage of jazz remains ever present in this musical nucleus, and thus inspires Double Trouble's constantly searching music.

Dörte Fiedler, 2020 | Translation: Heidi Heidelberg