Lumor: Flock of Birds

Lumor's vocalist, Mirjam Hassig, describes the trio as a "Swiss jazz and ambient band," which goes some way, but not all the way, to summing up the group and the music to be heard on its debut album, Flock of Birds. Yes, it is a jazz trio, the line-up completed by leader and composer Manuel Sidler on guitar and Flo Hufschmid on drums. Yes, much of the music can be described as ambient, in the sense of being calm, restful music that can easily blend into the background. But there is more. This is a trio with an expansive approach to its art.

Across this album, Lumor performs quiet, ethereal music that makes the most of Hässig's delicate, gentle vocalising to create meditative, reflective atmospheres—definitely an ambient sound. Do not get too comfortable, though, for Lumor can suddenly change the mood, creating more unsettling soundscapes, far removed from the idea of ambient music. Sometimes the change occurs mid-song, as on "Losing Yourself." Sometimes it is a subtle change: "Dem Ende zu" may be a slow tempo number, but Hufshmid's cymbal playing is propulsive and urgent, giving the tune a darker edge.

In between the ambient and the unsettling is, appropriately, "Between," the shortest track on Flock of Birds. This is a slow-burn song that opens with gentle wordless vocals over electric guitar, then shifts into a jagged, funky groove when Hufschmid enters on drums. "Flock of Birds" also sits somewhere in the middle of Lumor's moods, a spacious, mid-tempo and rather beautiful song.

"Major Seven" is reminiscent of "A Sailor's Life," the classic by Fairport Convention that helped to usher folk-rock into the 1970s, the delicate quality of Hässig's delivery reminiscent of Sandy Denny's performance on the Fairport number. On "Earth's Answer" and "Fallen" Hässig shows another side to her vocalising: hard-edged spoken word over Sidler and Hufschmid's guitar and drums. The effect is almost scary. On "Fallen" Hässig intones nursery rhyme lyrics in such a way as to send chills up the spine. "Earth's Answer" finds the trio in more aggressive form, guitar and drums aggressive and edgy, voice harsh and, sometimes, threatening. All in all, Flock of Birds is hopefully just the start of this musical collaboration.