Bernese drummer Julian Sartorius and Lucerne tenor saxophonist Elio Amberg together make up Julius Amber.
Their first album «Close Up» is situated between noise and reduced sound material; it’s sequenced with an electronic rhythm but at the same time follows a flexible tempo. What might be perceived as incompatibility in other contexts, comes together in synchronisation here. Precisely arranged to the millisecond, the phrases adapt to and stack upon each other. Not hectically but rather playfully and serenely, bodies of sound are invented in the moment.
Both musicians have acquired unique and unparalleled pools of sounds and playing techniques. The sounds on “Close Up” have been recorded precisely and intimately, by placing the microphones as close as possible to the respective sources. Thus, a wipe across the head of a drum by Sartorius sounds like a gasp of air, the circular breathing through Amberg's tenor saxophone like the chord of an organ. The four microphones were recorded on the 4-track Tascam 244 Portastudio, an analogue cassette recorder from 1982.
The reduction to analogue technology is not an end in itself here, but forms its very own sound in an innovative way. The sound underlines the musical concept of the two musicians: merging into one instrument, core fusion - Julius Amber.