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Elan Mehler - Scheme For Thought album

“It was a midsummer break and I deserved it, so after much foraging through Hip Hotels I found myself driving into the heart of Switzerland in search of the perfect central European onsen - you know, a serious hot steam bath for the forty-plus DJ. The place was hotel Therme, in Vals, a tiny hidden village surrounded by Alps and streams: elegant, designed, it almost didn’t matter that the weather was crap for the whole 3 days.Actually it didn’t matter at all after my first night. I’d stumbled into a cavernous bar lit up by the precise yet free piano of Elan Mehler.  In a way it made sense that a place as chic as this, a place that plays Shostakovic underwater in one of the baths, would have chosen the perfect live accompaniment and not some faded standardizer. This was my introduction to Elan - all original, delicate and to the left.  I spent the next 2 days looking forward to sending my kids to bed so I could hang out in the bar listening to Elan letting go, (me sipping on aged French armagnac!) A proper mature experience but one that I'm sure you'll feel too, when you check this album. Recorded with his quartet in Elan’s hometown, New York, the album retains the simplicity of the solo shows yet adds certain accompaniment with bass, rhodes and tenor saxophone.  An introspective beauty, this is the record I've been dying to release for years - I hope you enjoy!”

  • Posted by Gilles Peterson
  • Aug 28, 03:43 AM

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