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Agusti Fernandez / Artur Majewski / Albert Cirera / Ramon Prats
Som-hi!
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
review by Andrey Henkin
2026-06-08
Som-hi is a Catalan expression loosely translated as either "let's go" or "are you ready?". Used in either its imperative or interrogative sense, it functions well as impetus for these ten improvisations by Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández, two of his younger compatriots in saxophonist Albert Cirera and drummer Ramon Prats and Polish cornet player Artur Majewski.
Connections abound: Fernández has played alongside Cirera when the latter was part of the Free Art Ensemble, and both are members of The Liquid Trio/Quintet. Prats is also part of The Liquid Trio/Quintet but has additionally worked with Fernández in trios completed by the likes of Mats Gustafsson and Axel Dörner, and both were in the Banda D'Improvisadors De Barcelona. Cirera and Prats also had a duo project, time together in the Free Art Ensemble and Prats part of Cirera's Kamarilla. Finally, Majewski too is part of The Liquid Quintet, plus working in various other contexts with Fernández.
Though the pieces are dubbed parts of the title, this is not a nearly-hour-long workout broken up into convenient pieces after the fact. They are distinct explorations with beginnings and ends, covering a wide array of feels, extended techniques and running times. Part One is jittery, prehensile, almost tentative, becoming increasingly agitated while Part Two opens with an ominous piano chord and light cymbals, horns as frequency generators, much darker and abstract, each player daring the others to rise above a whisper. Parts Three, Four, Five and Six are tangentially related: raucous and lurching, drumming almost martial; a glorious metallic clatter echoed by inside piano sweeps and tumbling drums in an industrial soundtrack; a pitching and rolling Evan Parker-esque exposition; and a Jackson Pollack piece turned into a musical score, the artist running out of paint towards the end.
The last four are equally evocative but in a much quieter way, moving from insectile and post-apocalyptic and small skirmishes among primordial lizardry to a placid sunrise on an ice plane and, lastly, a balloon slowly deflating and none too happy about it.
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