KALI Trio: The Playful Abstract

KALI Trio’s new album, The Playful Abstract, could be a soundtrack to the air we breathe. Repeated listens to this tranquil, ever-shifting and sometimes transcendent record also invoke an association with the Japanese term, Ukiyo (浮世), meaning the “floating world”. Originally associated with Buddhism, where the term also denoted the sorrowful, or transient earthly plane from which its adherents sought release, ukiyo came to describe the sometimes seamy urban lifestyle and culture of Edo period Japan (1600–1867). Nowadays ukiyo is seen as a state of mind emphasising living in the moment, detached from the difficulties of life.

In this aspect it is a remarkably well-named album; the sense of weightlessness in the music really does suggest existing in a “floating world”. This quality is achieved in the main by supremely confident and intuitive playing. The three musicians - Nicolas Stocker (drums), Urs Müller (guitar) and Raphael Loher (piano) ‘searched for sounds in the studio’ that became part of the wider recording process. The considerable serendipity they found with their producer Manuel Egger also helped, as guitarist Urs Müller explained: ‘Manuel set up his studio in a way that allows him to mix simultaneously during recording. The sounds he creates during this process then influences the way we play. For example, a highly compressed drum sound or extreme preamp distortion would alter our approach to performing a piece. Manuel is a highly creative engineer who uses his effects in a very musical way.’

The band are celebrating their tenth anniversary in 2025. High time for a change of focus. Pianist Raphael Loher: ‘We chose a completely different creative process to the last album, LOOM, where we only played compositions. With the new record, we improvised a lot, selected sketches from these workouts and developed them further in rehearsals. In the studio, we started the process again from scratch, and improvised a lot of material directly, and developed the compositions directly from that.

The album's recording process was key for KALI Trio as people, too, as it introduced them to a new way of interacting musically. Drummer Nicolas Stocker: ‘We’ve all had to “step out”, and allow things to happen more organically and throw out preconceived ideas. Distancing ourselves from clear musical structures, allowing the music to become emotional in a new way - somehow brighter and, in the best sense, lighter. The pieces have also become much shorter!’ On first listen The Playful Abstract could indeed be described as a set of miniaturist workouts. Tracks are often short - a fair number are three minutes - a few stray over the five minute mark. Many also stop when you least expect them to, the bluster and ego associated with big endings is completely absent. For all its transience, this is a supremely confident and self-assured record and regarded by the band as their ‘most ambitious so far’, with 16 days recording and another 10 days mixing pulling things together.