Lund Quartet

Lund Quartet are an instrumental band from Bristol. Five years in the
making, their unique approach to music blends the space of the
Scandinavian Jazz scene with the creative opportunities of subtle
turntablism. These highly skilled players seek a careful balance between
precision and improvisation, combining the power of a jazz piano trio
with the solo recordings of specially recorded performances of local
musicians, both straight and scratched.

Lund Quartet consist of the self-taught Simon Adcock on piano and
theremin, hip hop producer Jake Wittlin on turntable, and the dub, ska
and drum ‘n’ bass influenced Rob Childs and Sam Muscat on double bass
and drums. In 2010, they decided to dedicate themselves to the Lund
Quartet by renting out an industrial unit in a car mechanic’s yard and
building their own studio, with materials and equipment scavenged from
skips and willing friends. This ability to build from the most diverse
of sources is at the heart of the Lund Quartet manifesto.

At ease with technology, their compositions often form around the
recording of a hypnotic groove, then inviting someone to play over it.
This is then chopped up, sampled and replayed through the turntable.
Check out a beautifully filmed live version of ‘Sequoia’ on YouTube to
see this almost effortless process at work. A rhythmic pulse of the
double bass. A train-trackdrum pattern and an emotional sweep of piano
keys. Then along come the gloriously plaintive Afro horns, distorted and
scratched.

Already making radio waves from Gilles Peterson on Radio 1 to Radio 3’s
Late Junction, Lund Quartet are taking their sound to a wider world of
jazz, hip hop and electronica.

Press:

‘Once in a blue moon a debut album makes it obvious the band in question
is exceptional. Thirty seconds in to ‘Sequoia’ the opening track on
‘Lund Quartet’ it is clear this is one such album.’ BBC Music

‘If this is jazz, it’s de-cluttered, minimal and atmospheric, with an
Enoesque approach to melody’ The Wire