Cologne Jazzweek: Hendrik Eichler’s Manic Anomaly

The space metaphor is simply too beautiful. When people talk about the infinite expanses of space, the disturbances in the space-time continuum or the unknown planets, analogies to art and, even better, to jazz and contemporary improvisational music almost automatically arise. The Cologne-based drummer, bandleader and composer Hendrik Eichler certainly likes the synergies inherent in such comparisons.

This is probably why he has named his pan-European band Manic Anomaly and titled the accompanying album "Metamorphmanic Anomaly", the release of which will be celebrated with a concert at Cologne Jazzweek. The music oscillates between atmospheric expansiveness and intense density, with electronic and acoustic soundscapes shifting over and under each other like continental plates. The result is a texture that is both organic and futuristically structured, in which the highs chirp brightly while the basses sink deep into the cellar.