Stemeseder Lillinger + Craig Taborn: Umbra III

Sometimes, the subversion of established paradigms unfolds through incremental variations and subtle shifts in the status quo—so gradual they can be almost imperceptible. Other times, transformation arrives in the form of unexpected revolutions, seismic and undeniable. Somewhere between these two extremes lie the musical experiments of Elias Stemeseder and Christian Lillinger.

The Austrian-German duo—pianist, composer, and electronic musician Elias Stemeseder and drummer, composer, and producer Christian Lillinger—conceived Umbra, a modular ensemble framework that interweaves musical notation with fluid systems of improvisation, inviting collaborators to explore its ever-evolving contours. Their inaugural release, Umbra (Intakt, 2023), brought together Peter Evans, Russell Hall, DoYeon Kim and Brandon Seabrook in an intricate sonic experiment. The follow-up, Umbra II (Intakt, 2024), saw Stemeseder and Lillinger revisiting the project alongside Evans and Hall. Now, with Umbra III, recorded live at the International Jazzfestival Saalfelden on August 21, 2021, the duo welcomes American pianist Craig Taborn into their unpredictable musical architecture.

Taborn is, perhaps, the ideal counterpart for the Umbra venture. Renowned for his dazzling piano improvisations from a young age, he also harbors a deep fascination with computers and synthesizers, an interest evident in his collaborations with Rob Mazurek, Tim Berne, Evan Parker and Dan Weiss. Yet, in this performance, he forgoes electronics entirely, remaining solely at the piano. Stemeseder, by contrast, modifies his spinet piano with electronic manipulation, while Lillinger alternates between his percussive craft and a palette of samples and electronic textures.

The recording unfolds in two expansive pieces: the 37-minute "Signum" and the briefer, yet no less intense, "Typus" at nine minutes. The album's opening moments resemble a surreal wind-up music box, its chimes disrupted by fragmented percussion. As the piece expands, layers of electronics emerge, conjuring the eerie ambiance of a 1960s sci-fi film score. The trio oscillates between intimate small-scale improvisation and sudden thunderous surges of sound. Their interplay blurs the line between acoustic expression and electronic transformation—Stemeseder's spinet piano veering from calliope-like whimsy to the mechanical wonder of a steampunk dreamscape. The music shifts unpredictably, morphing in tone and momentum with each new passage. Lillinger's drumming is restless, a kinetic cascade of clattering textures punctuated by sampled interjections and bursts of mechanical whir.

Together, they craft a listening experience that is both meticulously structured and wildly unbound—a testament to the endless possibilities found in the tension between order and chaos.